Larry Greeley Lee

Lee is survived by his sister, Barbara Callie and her husband, Anthony Pascone of Black Mountain, North Carolina; brother Stephen of Medellin, Colombia; his son, Kevin (Mary Ellen) Lee of Mobile, Alabama; daughter, Kim (Tod) Stimpson of Brooksville, Florida, and the mother of his children, Patsy Jenkins Lee.

Lee was born Jan. 21, 1943, when his father was assigned to Maxwell Air Base during World War II. He moved around the nation before his family settled on a Mobile County farm. Lee graduated from Theodore High School in 1961.

Lee initially enrolled as an engineering major at Auburn University, then combined his rural background with his love for writing as faculty devised a new agricultural journalism major for him. He lettered in track under legendary coach Mel Rosen. Lee served as sports editor for the Auburn student newspaper, The Plainsman, and trained future-Sports Information Director David Housel to be his successor. Lee graduated from Auburn University in 1966 and was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honorary, Alpha Zeta agricultural honorary, Gamma Sigma Delta agricultural honorary, and Sigma Delta Chi journalism fraternity.

Lee’s love and allegiance for Auburn – he was known for wearing university-branded apparel – was a hallmark of his personality. Understandable, since Lee was the first person in his family to graduate from college.

“All I need to make me happy is a car that runs and a pair of Auburn football tickets,” Lee once joked with a crowd.

Lee was present for almost all the Auburn Tigers’ momentous games of the last 60 years. His understated recollection of the historic Kick Six in 2013 was, “Chris Davis was running it back and next thing we knew, everybody was on the field.”

Lee was an editor at Progressive Farming magazine, an advertising copy writer at Luckie & Co., was southern editor for Successful Farming magazine, and directed farm news for radio network Capitol Agri-Net.

Lee served as executive vice president of the Georgia Pork Producers Association and directed the communications effort for the National Pork Producers Council. He made hundreds of presentations to national, regional, state, and local agricultural and civic organizations on the future of American agriculture.

At various times, Lee served as executive director for the Tri-Rivers Waterway Development Association, the Southeast Alabama Planning and Development Commission, the West Alabama Economic Development Authority, and the Covington County Economic Development Commission. He served as director for the Center for Rural Alabama.

Lee worked on Congressional hearings and coordinated lobbying efforts for national organizations. He also launched regional leadership development programs.

Lee was a Jaycee in both Birmingham and Montgomery. For four years, he chaired a statewide Jaycee project which was selected the number one project in the state and Lee was recognized as Alabama’s outstanding state chairman in 1972.

Lee chaired the steering committee that formed the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association and was a board member. He was the director of communications for the National Pork Producers Council in Des Moines, Iowa.

Lee was a board member of Goodwill Industries of Central Alabama.

In 1973, Lee’s friend and Auburn classmate George McMillan successfully ran for state house and Lee helped manage the campaign with the future-lieutenant governor. Self-assured and jocular, Lee took to politics and ran for U.S. Congress in 1982, 1984, and 1992. When he won the Democratic Party nomination in 1984, his car famously caught fire in a Montgomery, Alabama parking lot while he gave a speech.

Lee was a frequent guest columnist for periodicals around the state, including Alabama Political Reporter and al.com. He blogged at larryeducation.com and published the book “In the Land of Cotton: How Old Times There Still Shape Alabama's Future.”

In the later decades of his life, Lee turned his energies toward educational reform advocacy. Lee’s blog, Education Matters, was aimed at “common sense approaches to solving education challenges,” and had more than 250,000 page-views a year. He compiled a nationally acclaimed study, Lessons Learned from Rural Schools, that highlighted the successes of ten rural Alabama elementary schools.

Lee chaired the state advisory Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters board and was a charter member of the National Network for Public Education. He was a member of the National Rural Schools Collaborative board. Lee was also a key figure in creating the Black Belt Teacher Corps at the University of West Alabama.

Lee was chairman of the advisory board of HIPPY Alabama, an early childhood learning program. He presented to the Southern Legislative Conference, the Southern Growth Policies Board, and the Delta Regional Authority, as well as VOICES for Alabama’s Children, Alabama Association of School Boards, Alabama Farmers Federation, Association of County Commissions, and School Superintendents of Alabama.

In 2018, Lee served as a temporary member of the Montgomery school board.

Lee won the 2019 Alabama Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities award for Media of the Year.

Lee’s impact was felt in one way or another across the entire state for a half-century. In his retirement, he often spoke of his driving need to find purpose in life.

Funeral services will take place July 11, 2026, at White Chapel-Greenwood Funeral Home (909 Lincoln Road, Montgomery, Alabama 36109). Visitation is at 10 a.m. Service at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to the Rural Schools Collaborative (https://ruralschoolscollaborative.org/support) in honor of Larry G. Lee.