Dr. Charles Chulsoo Lee

Professor Lee was born in Flagstaff, Arizona where he became valedictorian of his high school class at Flagstaff High. He went on to the California Institute of Technology. At Caltech he was member of Lloyd House and met many life long friends. Later he obtained a doctorate in neurobiology studying under Jeff Winer from the University of California at Berkeley and did post doctoral work at the University of Chicago in the Murray Sherman Lab.

Dr. Lee began his position at LSU in 2011 and rose to rank of full Professor in 2023. At LSU he was the William L. Jenkins Endowed Professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, the long-term director of the school’s neuroscience program and a professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems in the Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. Lee made the most difficult subjects interesting and attainable – using bad puns and outlandish behavior to capture student attention. Students and colleagues cherished the moments when he would pull out a guitar and play a song to capture the moment, and their minds.

Dr. Lee investigated the neural circuits that control sensory inputs and cognitive patterns in the forebrain, concentrating on the thalamus.

His detailed research attracted millions of dollars’ worth of funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the Louisiana Board of Regents and the predecessor of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, among others.

At the time of his passing, Lee was the principal investigator on a major NIH grant, following several previous short-term NIH research projects. He received the NSF’s Career Award for early-career faculty in 2017 and also received the LSU Alumni Faculty Award to recognize his research and teaching.

Dr. Lee mentored several Ph.D. and master’s degree candidates and honor students.

While serving as a successful scientist and mentor, his most important role was a private one: loving husband to Erin and kind and gentle father to their two boys, Taiga and Alasdair. He was the best dad. Charles valued and protected quality time with his family.

He is also survived by his mother Dr. Chunhye Lee, sister Grace Lee and her partner Allan Schrock, and cat Sunny Bun Lee. He is preceded in death by his father, Dr. Sangmyung Lee.

In his free time he liked doing Wordle, watching Dr. Who, and sleeping. He was Green Lantern and Zelda fan.

In 2001 he co-founded the Groks Science Radio Show and Podcast with Dr. Frank Ling. It now airs on WHYR 96.9 FM and throughout the country.

Lee also published “Zen and the Art of Foosball: A Beginner’s Guide to Table Soccer” with David Richard and Attma Sharma, along with other books and scientific papers.

His distinguished career pales in comparison to the human he was. Smart, talented, vibrant, and so kind. With all the successes, he stayed grounded and sought to help and support people whenever he could. He will be greatly missed.

Relatives and friends are invited to the chapel of Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 government st. for a memorial service beginning at 1pm. A gathering is to follow the service at the reception room of Rabenhorst Funeral Home.

To honor Professor Charles C. Lee’s lifelong dedication to education and scientific discovery, the family kindly requests contributions be made to the Foundation for the American Association of University Professors or the Society for Neuroscience.