Leland Hill Towle

Lee received a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Durham, NH, his Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, and a Certificate in Management and Business from the University of California at Berkeley.

While at UNH, Lee met his wife, Carol, on a blind date, and they married on June 5, 1953. Shortly after marriage, they spent one year in California and two years in Alaska where Lee served as a First Lieutenant Officer in the U.S. Air Force. The family subsequently settled in Palo Alto and then Los Altos Hills, CA. Together they had three children: a son, Peter Kimball and two daughters, Gretchen and Michelle.

While living in CA, Lee worked as a nuclear chemist and economist at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park. After working in an expanded role at SRI as Manager of Health Services Research, they relocated to Great Falls, VA in 1974, where Lee served as a Visiting Scientist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) at the National Institutes of Health for two years. He was then promoted to Program Development Director at NIAAA. During the last 14 years of his career at NIAAA, Lee served as the Director of International and Intergovernmental Affairs. Working closely with the World Health Organization, he was a key contributor to many public health research collaborative efforts as well as publications in the field of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. In 1995, Lee established LHT Associated, Inc. and continued working in the international research field for three more years.

Following retirement, Lee and Carol moved to Burgess, VA and then in 2009, they moved to WindsorMeade Retirement Community in Williamsburg, VA, where they had a lovely villa facing the woods and a pond. At WindsorMeade, Lee was very active in the Residents Association, serving as Council President from 2013-14 as well as serving on many other committees throughout the years. Lee also volunteered at the Kiwanis Club of the Colonial Capital and was a docent at the Jamestown Rediscovery for several years.

Over the years, Lee and Carol spent many summers on the island of Islesboro, ME at the family cottage on Hewes Point. In addition to foreign travel to Australia, Japan, and many countries in Europe and the Middle East, they spent a month on Siesta Key, Florida every February – March, meeting many new and returning friends.

Lee is survived by his two daughters, Gretchen Maynard and husband Dave of Prescott, AZ, and Michelle Aurora and her husband Bill of Thousand Oaks, CA; his daughter-in-law Denise Towle of Redmond, OR; grandsons David Maynard and companion Monica of Reno, NV and Alex Maynard of Reno, NV; and granddaughters Miri Aurora and Jasleen Aurora of Thousand Oaks, CA. He also leaves a brother in WA, nieces and nephews in CA and NC, and a grandniece in GA.

Charitable donations in his memory may be sent to a charity of your choice or to Heritage Humane Society, 430 Waller Mill Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185.