Out for District Attorney of Chenango County
David F. Lee, of Norwich Announces Candidacy on the Democratic Ticket
Utica Saturday Globe, August 1916
David F. Lee
1885 - 1967
Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]: Attorney David F. Lee, of this city, has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for district attorney of Chenango county. His friends, who are many, have urged him to become a candidate for this important office, believing that he is especially well qualified for the position, and has a fair chance of being elected.
Mr. Lee is a son of John F. Lee, the well-known buyer of butter, cheese and other farm produce. He was educated in the Norwich public schools and Syracuse University Law School, graduating in 1907. After practicing in New York city for a year he returned to Norwich and by close attention and efficient efforts has built up a good practice in the local, State and Federal courts.
Mr. Lee believes that the success which he has attained at all stages of his career has been due to his willingness to work and his capacity for work. Even before he left the grades he was peddling papers on the streets. During his High School and college courses he was employed summers; one year as errand boy at the Norwich Pharmacal company; two years at Borden's; one year at the Ontario & Western shops, and one year as assistant to Lineman Rogers on the O.&W.
Whatever he goes into he goes into earnestly and energetically and to win. During his High School course he won the first prize in declamation and was a leader in baseball, football and basketball. In Syracuse University he won the freshman contest in oratory, was class orator in his senior year, was a member of his class baseball team, leader of the Law School Debating Club, and manager of and player on the University basketball team. Since his return to Norwich he has coached many of the successful contestants in the prize speaking contests, played several summers on the Norwich baseball team and has coached or helped to coach the High School and Y.M.C.A. basketball teams. he is a popular speaker and has been in frequent demand as Memorial day orator and speaker at farmers' picnics and other gatherings.
Mr. Lee has devoted himself diligently to the study and practice of his profession, specializing in the criminal law. He has been connected with more criminal cases during the past eight years than any other Chenango county attorney and in many of them has won notable successes. His reputation as a successful practitioner has spread into neighboring counties and he is frequently called upon to defend or assist in cases in otter parts of the State.
[Note: David F. Lee won the 1916 election for District Attorney of Chenango County, defeating Millard C. Loomis]
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Obituary
Binghamton Press, November 3, 1967
David F. Lee, Sr.
1885 - 1967
The funeral of David F. Lee Sr, former Supreme court justice and former Broome County Democratic chairman will be at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Devine-Wilson Memorial Home, Norwich, and at 10 a.m. at St. Paul's Church. Burial will be in St. Paul's Cemetery, Norwich [Chenango Co., NY]. Mr. Lee, father of Supreme Court Justice David F. Lee, Jr., died Wednesday night in the River-Mede Manor Convalescent and Nursing Center, Binghamton. He had suffered a stroke during the summer. He was 82 years old. He had retired from politics in 1940 after a long career in public life that began when he first campaigned for William Jonathan Bryan for President in the last decade of the 19th Century. He was a schoolboy campaigner in Norwich. In that career he became the confidante of Franklin D. Roosevelt , Al Smith and other towering New York political figures. He had moved to Binghamton from Norwich in the 1920s, and challenged and defeated the reigning Democratic organization led by the late William W. Farley. He became Broome County Democratic chairman in 1927, a position he held 13 years. In an interview last autumn, Mr. Lee said: "Mr. Roosevelt came on. With a President of the United States going for you in a place like Binghamton, you're going to get people interested in the Democratic Party." He had been a county chairman before that. When he was 24 years old, he was Democratic leader of Chenango County, his birthplace, and it was as a youthful leader that Mr. Smith and Mr. Roosevelt came to know him and value his judgements. In 1925, Mr. Smith, then governor, appointed him for 14 months to a vacancy on the Supreme Court bench in the Sixth Judicial District, a post now held by his namesake, Justice David F. Lee, Jr. By 1940 at 55, he decided to return to Norwich and practice law with his sons, David, Jr. and Edward. He had been born in Otselic [Chenango Co., NY], Jan 19, 1885, and attended Norwich schools before going to Syracuse University and its law school, and he always had planned some day to return to Chenango County to, as he put it, "hunt and fish with my sons." They formed a law partnership. During his time in Binghamton in the 1920s and 1930s, his law firm was one of the biggest in the city. He was a veteran of countless court trials, both criminal and civil, and was noted for fiery cross examination and eloquence in pleading with juries. Even at 82, he was proud of his physical endurance. During an interview in his office he jumped up and down to demonstrate his vigor. "I can do this indefinitely," he told a reporter. He said with pride, "I don't wear glasses, except to drive." During the last months of his office, he also said one day to a reporter, "I'm not waiting for St. Peter, and Ed (one of his son partners) is the boss." Besides his sons, he is survived by Mrs. Lee; two daughters, Mrs. John D. Dessauer Sr., of Pittsford, and Mrs. James Murphy, Sr., of Binghamton, and sister, Mrs. Mary Lee McManus of Kalamazoo, Mich. and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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