Thomas Roger Lee

February 1, 1944 – April 6, 2025

“To speak as the common people do, to think as the wise people do.” - Roger Ascham

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Thomas Roger Lee, a beloved family man and accomplished electrical engineer, whose life was anything but boring, as he often claimed. He was born on February 1, 1944, in Worcester, MA, and died on April 6, 2025, in Derwood, MD. He passed in his Derwood home of nearly 50 years, after a seven-year battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, with his wife of nearly 60 years at his side. A lifelong non-smoker, he serves as a reminder that life is not always fair and not always kind. But it is the 81 years in between his birth and death milestones that hold his real and magical story of perseverance, resilience, and family love.

Thomas was known by his family of origin and childhood friends as “Tommy.” Throughout college, his career and married life, he was simply “Tom.” He led many youth baseball, basketball, and soccer teams as “Coach Lee” and to his children’s friends he was known as “Mr. Lee.” Post retirement, he took on the role of “Senior Lee” to the South Carroll High School’s RoboCavs team, which he led with his son, Sean. Undoubtedly, however, his most cherished monikers were “Dad” and “Grandad,” roles he wouldn’t have traded for all the money in the world.

Tommy was one of four children raised by working class parents in a small 900 square foot home. His dad worked for a bus company and his mom was a nurse. Grampa Thomas lived in their detached garage shed at the end of the driveway. Tommy was a poor city kid who spent childhood days with his friends trading Topps baseball cards, following the Boston Red Sox, gathering for pick up sports, playing with toy trains, and taking his rowboat out on Indian Lake behind Mr. Swenson’s market. In 1955, he traded his miniature printing press for the rowboat. He and friends later rigged the rowboat with a five-horsepower outboard motor to make it a speed boat, which worked well until his brother Bobby took it apart and couldn’t put it back together. Tommy worked as a paperboy delivering the Worcester Telegram and the evening Gazette, saving his money to buy a bicycle and a snow sled. He listened to Lone Ranger on the radio and loved a good penny arcade, but spent most of his childhood outdoors. He spent time at his Grampa Thomas’ shanty in Holden, MA, and many summers at a rural two room shanty in Williamston, VT, a property also owned by his grandfather.

Tom liked school. He went to Nelson Place Elementary School, Burncoat Junior High School and graduated with distinction from North High School in Worcester. In high school, he joined the football team. As a freshman, he was issued size 14 shoes that he had to stuff with newspaper to fill out the toes! He loved to say he mostly “rode the pine” and his main goal was to avoid serious injury. He also played in a CYO basketball league for St. George Catholic Church and boasted an impressive three year “defeated” record of 0-24 but had lots of fun with

his friends along the way. The place Tommy excelled, however, was in the classroom and tutoring other students, particularly in math. He graduated a year early, earning the superlative “Most Brilliant” in the North High Class of 1961. An apt quote from his high school yearbook reads: “Tom seems quiet to some but to those who know him well, his subtle humor and constant consideration make him a valued friend.” It is a spot-on description.

Tom went on to study engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. Because money was scarce for him, he was a commuter student and most days walked the two miles from home to school and back. With money he had saved, cost cutting practices and a scholarship earned as his high school valedictorian, he covered the $700 per semester tuition and graduated on time with distinction. He ranked earning his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering as one of his proudest accomplishments. He vowed at that time that none of his own children would ever want for enough money to pursue an education at the college of their choice - a promise he indeed kept. It was during his junior year at WPI, at a dance at the Bancroft Club in Auburn, MA, that he spotted Mary Lou Kelliher and asked her to dance. Nearly three years older than Tom, Mary Lou had already graduated from college and was teaching math at Grafton Junior High School in Grafton, MA. He proposed over a fancy dinner date and they married a year later on July 23, 1966.

Tom began his engineering career in Kingston, NY, in 1965 at IBM working on a computer system for the Air Force. By all accounts it was his dream job, in an industry that was desperate for electrical engineers who knew how to work with transistors. But in 1966 the draft called. While on his honeymoon in Bermuda, he received a call and a job offer from the US Public Health Service, a commissioned homeland position in Maryland that fulfilled his military service. Thus began a 40-year career at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, MD. He began his career in the Radiation Surveillance Network, and as a young engineer generated a report providing technical data for congressional hearings that led to the passage of the Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act of 1968. He served in roles as Section Chief, later Branch Chief and then Division Director before retiring as an Associate Office Director of the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories. He was responsible for coordinating 21 labs for FDA’s enforcement activities, most notably medical device recalls. Tom was esteemed by his colleagues and for 24 years also served as FDA’s representative to the steering committee for the Government Microcircuits Application Conference – serving with and bringing in presenters of technological renown including Jack Kilby, the inventor of the integrated circuit, Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore, founders of Intel, and Wilson Greatbatch, inventor of the transistorized implantable cardiac pacemaker and co-founder of Medtronics. In fact, Wilson Greatbatch designed a special infant sized pacemaker implanted in Tom’s seven-day old son, Kevin, in 1971. Tom described his work with the FDA as “very technical.” He heralded transistors and microcircuits for not only making his career exciting but also for the existence of so many devices we take for granted daily.

Tom loved learning and returned to school in 1968, attending graduate school on the GI Bill with a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland. He earned his Master of Electrical Engineering in 1970 and went on to pursue a doctoral program in electrical engineering, completing “All But Dissertation” PHD EE in 1972. During the summer of 1969 after his first year, his advisor arranged for him to begin work with the MITRE corporation, a military “think tank” that required government clearance. He continued to attend classes, teach labs and work increasingly more hours for MITRE. Eventually, when he started full time work for MITRE in the summer of 1970, the top-secret clearance and trips to Langley made it clear he was working for the CIA. With a wife and two children at home in late 1972, he terminated his MITRE employment and returned to the FDA. His time working with the CIA was a secret to his family until his final years, when on a trip to the Smithsonian Institute, he saw his work on display – weird weapons of the Vietnam war, fake “water buffalo poop” concealing motion detecting transmitters which was dropped from aircraft to gather data about enemy movement on the ground! We know he took tremendous pride in the things he accomplished over his long career; however, true fulfillment came from family.

His family was most definitely the light of his life and his four children with Mary Lou were his proudest accomplishment. He was enduringly grateful to her and credits her with raising their family and running the household, particularly during times he traveled for work. However, his children remember a team effort and the prevailing recollection of each of them is his presence. He was present everywhere from family dinners at home to the sidelines and stands of more sporting events, awards ceremonies, and graduations than can be counted. Fond childhood memories that will forever be linked with dad include bedtime book reading and back scratches, evening swimming and summer days at Gaithersburg Aquatic Center, hospital stays and pickles with Kevin, Saturday morning rides in his convertible after games to 7-11 for Slurpee’s and Big Gulps (“leave out the ice, you’ll get more soda that way”), head scratches on long car rides for a quarter per minute, WWF matches with the Pignones and battle royales in the back of the van (little Larry’s bloody noses), visits to Jack’s Comic Book shop and the Pop Shoppe, baseball card shows, camping trips to Ravenrock, Indian Guides Pinewood Derby, Friday nights at McDonalds with the Grahams, the 1984 cross country trip from Maryland to California (what sane man drives 3000 miles TWICE in two weeks with four children age 7 to 15??). He had long been fascinated by the Disney experience - more than once he had contemplated applying as a Disney Imagineer during his career - and he shared this love through numerous Disney vacations. He modeled self-reliance and loved a good home project, completing many including building a screened porch, finishing the basement, and remodeling kitchens. He loved to tell stories, repeating his favorites time and time again, truth mixed with fiction often making them all that much more fabulous. More than anything else, he provided stability, security, and opportunity for all his children. He was our biggest fan and our greatest cheerleader, and his pride in us was never in doubt.

Undoubtedly, the greatest fulfillment of his life came with the love and happiness of welcoming grandchildren. Except for those that blessed his life later as toddlers and young children, he

was present to meet and hold each one of his grandchildren in the hospital after every single birth. Grandad provided comfort and love unfailingly to all of them through a lap to sit on, a shoulder to rest a head on, or a hand to hold. He nurtured curiosity, knowledge, and independence by reading books, sharing stories, imparting wisdom, teaching skills, and providing guidance at every stage of their lives from infancy to young adulthood. He adored being with them for shared meals at the Outta the Way Cafe (30 years with waitress, Catherine!), playing hearts at the beach house, enjoying crab feasts, watching movies, and reading about Chadwick the Crab. He shared his love of Disney, meticulously planning Disney vacation trips a year in advance, riding roller coasters, rocking along to the Country Bear Jamboree, and creating elaborate scavenger hunts across multiple Disney properties; his love of Legos, building a 12x12 ft Lego City in his Derwood home basement and breaking down Lego City sets for Advent calendars; his love of food, making Grandad’s famous “fish and chips” (french fries to rival Thrashers!) and morning donut runs. His greatest hope was to create space and time for his growing family to gather, to make memories, and to bond through shared experiences, whether that was at his Derwood home, Bear Trap beach house, Bethany Beach, Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, Disney World, Disney’s Boardwalk Hotel, Outta the Way Cafe or Toby Dinner Theatre. Heaven on Earth for Grandad was being surrounded by his grandchildren, anywhere at any time, even if he was simply nestled in his chair “resting his eyes.”

However one knew him, Tommy, Tom, Coach Lee, Mr. Lee, Senior Lee, Dad, Grandad, he left an indelible mark. It was never important for him to be remembered by the world, but he hoped the memories he created with those he cherished so dearly would endure. It seems certain they will.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Robert Edward Lee and Helen Caroline (Thomas) Lee, and his sisters Sandra Lee and MaryAnn (Lee) Warren. He is survived by his wife and life partner of 59 years, Mary Louise (Kelliher) Lee; his brother Robert Edward Lee, Junior (spouse Patricia Lee); brother-in-law James Kelliher; his children, Brian Lee (spouse Heather Lee), Kevin Lee (spouse Janet Lee), Colleen Lee Armentrout (spouse Kyle Armentrout), and Sean Lee; his 17 grandchildren, in age order, Samantha Lee, Bonnie Lee, Audrey Lee, Canaan (Eident) Persyn, William Nikitin, Will Armentrout, Conor Lee, Caitlyn Lee, Cooper Eident, Garrett Nikitin, Owen Armentrout, Liam Eident, Caroline Armentrout, Mary Lee, Zippy Eident, Stephen Lee, and Becca Lee; and nieces Nicole Lee, Alana (Lee) Stone, Jenna (Warren) Kolb, and nephew Christian Lee.

The family will welcome visitors for an open house Celebration of Life on May 11 from 2-6 p.m. at the family home 17045 Briardale Road, Derwood, MD. A funeral mass will be held on May 12 at Saint Francis of Assisi in Derwood. Family will greet visitors starting at 12 p.m. and a mass will follow at 1 p.m.