Montgomery County sentinel., 1944-12-28
Senator Lee, Aged 81,
Dies At Home OF Son
0CoNtinued fronr Paae ID

During his services as a member
of the United States Senate and
the Maryland State Senate and
throughout his long political ca
reer, Mr.. Lee consistently stood as
liberal, constantly supporting the
political philosophy of William
Jennings Bryan, close political
friend, and later that of Woodrow
Wilson.
Elected member Of the Mary.
land Senate from his home county
Of Montgomery in 1905 and re-
elected for another four-year term
in 1909, Blair Lee introduced anu
supported to enactment a compre-
hensive program of new Maryland
laws.
Former Congressman David ].
Lewis, of Maryland, describing
Senator Lees record in the Mary
land Senate, said: "The Maryland
laws introduced and supported by
Senator Blair Lee, of Montgomery
county, and enacted into law have
changed Maryland from a Tory to
a progressive State"
Among the legislation which
Senator Lee introduced and sup
ported to enactment in the Mary
land Senate were bills requir-
ing the direct primary system of
making party nominations for both
state, county and municipal Offices;
the law creating the Maryland
Public Service Commission, which
for the first time regulated public
utilities and utility rates in Mary
land; amendments to the work
mems compensation law and the
creation of the State Accident
Commission; numerous state sta
tutes which started the good roads
system in Maryland and created
and consolidated the Maryland
State Roads Commission, and the
eight-hour requirement for rail
road telegraphers.
Senator Lee was graduate Of
Princeton University and life pre-
sident Of the Glass OF 1880. He
played three years on the Prince
ton football team, was member
Of the varsity crew and was one OF
the founders and president of the
Ivy Club. He was graduated FROM,
the Columbian University of Law
in Washington, which is now
George Washington University.
He practiced law for number
of years in Washington and was
a member Of the American, Mary
land and District of Columbia Bar
associations. Hsl served for years
as member Of the board of trus-
tees of the Washingtofr City Or
phan Asylum, of which his mother
was a founder. and was a vestry-
man Of Grace Episcopal Church at
Silver Spring fer nearly 40 years.
Senator Lee was member OF
the Society Of Cincinnati and pre-
sident Of the Society of Lees in
Virginia. His great grandfather,
Richard Henry Lee, signer of the
Declaration of Independence, was
one of the members of the family
born at Stratford.
In 1891 Blair Lee married Anne
Clymer Brooke, of Birdsboro, Pa.
She died in 1908. Senator Lee
never remarked. He made his
home at Silver Spring, Nd, all his
life. He was interested in farm
ing, horticulture, dogs and the out
doors generally; was a life mem
Der of the Metropolitan Club and
a charter member of the Chevy
Chase Club.
Senator Lee is survived by two
sons, e. Brooke Lee, of Silver
Spring, and P. Blair Lee, of Phila-
delphia, seven grandchildren and
one great-grandson.
His father, the late Rear Admiral
Samuel Phillips Lee, of the United
States Navy, organized and COM
manded the North Atlantic block
ade squadron Of the Federal Navy,
which blockaded the Confederacy
from Cape Hatteras north to the
Potomac river during the second
and third years of the Civil War.
His mother, Elizabeth Blair Lee,
was daughter of Francis Preston
Blair, editor Of the Globe and q
of the 'Kitchen Cabinet"
of President Andrew Jackson.