Lee Collins

Lee Collins (Sharif) passed away December 9th 2020. World adventurer, business woman, academic, beloved friend, sister, mother, and grandmother, Lee was born in San Antonio, TX on November 21st. It was clear early that her life would not be ordinary. Fiercely independent with insatiable curiosity, she marched to the beat of her own drum.

Lee grew up in San Antonio, attending St. Mary’s Hall and Jefferson High School. After graduating from the University of Texas, she first moved to Monterrey, Mexico, and later, Izmir, Turkey to teach English at a girls school. She travelled through Europe at this time visiting her sister who was living in Germany. She came back to the U.S. in the late 1960s, and moved to San Francisco where she worked for Bank of America in the then relatively new field of computer programming before matriculating into the Monterrey (CA) Institute of Foreign Languages. She returned to Texas to teach fighter pilots at the Lackland Air Force Base Foreign Language school, where she met Ali her soon to be husband (a Top Gun love story). Shortly after she set off for Shiraz, Iran at a time when Iran and the US were close allies.

She settled back in Austin, Texas in 1978, starting her family and completing a Masters in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas. She raised her daughter, Chantal, balancing life as a devoted mother and a business professional in high tech at Nth Graphics, Rogue Wave, Compaq Corporations, and later Apple. During this period, she completed her Executive MBA at the University of Texas. While she and Ali divorced, they remained friends participating in key life events.

Lee returned to the Middle East in 2004, as a professor teaching in colleges in Dubai, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia where she conducted research for her PhD in economics and inspired her students to innovate in marketing and to dream big. She received her PhD in 2012 from Newcastle School of Business in the United Kingdom for her work on “The Role of Sociocultural Dimensions in National Innovation Systems: the GCC.” During her time as a professor and during her PhD research in the Middle East and later in the UK, she was able to be an integral part of Chantal’s life in Dubai and later as a grandmother in London.

She spent her last years’ between Austin and London to be close to friends and family. In London, she had dinner with her grandchildren every night and was frequently spotted at school drop-offs. In the hours in between, she was writing a book.

She lived an extraordinary life pursuing so many wide interests, forging relationships with many American, European, and Middle Eastern companions along the way, and giving so much of herself to her family and friends and encouraging them to pursue limitless possibilities.

While her life and movements were extraordinary, she found pleasure in the small things – music (Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Andrea Bocelli), a good workout, a coffee at her favourite coffee shop, a good glass of wine, a great book or the latest Vogue, a beautiful scarf, a game of Rummikub, a soccer match with her grandchildren, or just a good laugh with friends old or new. She is timeless and timeless is the definition of an icon.

She is survived by her daughter Chantal Sharif Beck, Chantal's husband Carsten Beck, grandchildren Oliver and Alexander, all of London, England and her sister Mickie Anderson of Portolla Valley, CA, brother Patrick Collins of Austin, and many nieces, nephews, and friends throughout the world.

A memorial service will be held in the garden at 1808 Pearl Street on Wednesday December 16th, 5-7 pm and streamed via Zoom. Please click the Join Livestream button below and enter passcode 137171.

A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be hosted on her next birthday - November 21 2021!