Friends remembered former JAX Chamber President and CEO Wally Lee over the weekend as a mentor, job generator and joke-teller.
Lee, 69, died Friday. He is survived by his wife, Alyson Shutts Lee.
Services for Walter Mayberry Lee III are Thursday. The committal service is 2 p.m. at Hardage-Giddens Oaklawn Cemetery, 4801 San Jose Blvd. The memorial service is 3 p.m. at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church, 4113 Hendricks Ave.
Daniel Davis, who succeeded Lee as chamber president and CEO, said Lee was passionate about growing Jacksonville and pushing the city forward.
“He leaves a lasting impact on our community and our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time,” Davis said in a statement Saturday morning.
A friend announced on Lee’s Facebook page July 23 that he had emergency surgery July 21 for a spinal epidermal cyst and developed a blood infection.
Dozens of condolences were posted on Lee’s Facebook page.
“He was a force to be reckoned with in our business community for many years,” wrote Kimberly Waterhouse, a business development executive with First Coast News.
JAXUSA Partnership President Jerry Mallot posted that Lee brought him to Jacksonville in 1994 and the two became great friends in addition to colleagues.
“In many ways, Wally was bigger than life. He developed a terrific team and had an amazing way of attracting Jacksonville's top talent from businesses large and small,” Mallot wrote.
He said that while Lee “was a wonderful leader and has many business legacies that define him, it is his humor and gregarious personality but I remember best.”
Mallot said Lee “never met a stranger” and left people happier than before they met him.
UNF President and former Mayor John Delaney said Lee was fun to be with as they spent many hours working on Touchdown Jacksonville and other deals.
Touchdown Jacksonville was the group formed to recruit an NFL team to Jacksonville.
"It was a particularly strong chamber during his tenure," said Delaney, who served two terms as mayor from 1995 to 2003.
“A strength was his skill in hiring sharp people. He had a singular focus on job growth and economic development,” Delaney said.
Davis said Lee’s leadership to focus on regional economic development was central to much of the chamber’s success in attracting jobs and investment to the area.
Lee joined the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce in 1989 and announced his retirement as president and CEO in December 2012.
He was succeeded by Davis, a former state representative and City Council member.
Davis said Lee led the effort to develop what is now JAXUSA Partnership, a seven-county regional economic development organization designed to attract jobs and capital investment to Northeast Florida.
Davis said Lee also helped to develop entrepreneurial programs such as the Jacksonville Women’s Business Center, and he advocated for a thriving Downtown and championed civil rights.
Lee’s biography shows that he began his chamber career with the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina, where he served as head of economic development.
He then served as president of the Spartanburg chamber in South Carolina and the Mobile chamber in Alabama.
His 23 years leading the Jacksonville chamber included the city’s recruitment of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The franchise was announced in 1993 and the team began play in 1995.
Lee is a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville and Leadership Florida and has served on the boards of HabiJax, the Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute, Edwards Waters College, the Florida State College at Jacksonville Foundation, the University of North Florida Coggin College of Business and many other organizations.
Lee is a fourth-generation graduate of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, with a bachelor’s degree in history.
He also studied theology at Southeastern Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Delaney said Lee’s theological background affected “many of his dealings with people.”
After retirement, his endeavors included creating the LeeValent Group with former chamber vice president of operations Anna Valent. Alyson Lee is vice president of client relations.
"Wally's big personality filled the room," Valent said. "He was a loyal friend and amazing mentor. His booming laughter, corny jokes and charismatic presence will be deeply missed.”
LeeValent Group describes itself as an HR enhancement company that provides services for relocating professionals and their families.
When Lee announced his retirement in 2012, he said he looked forward to his post-leadership role that would begin after advising the chamber through March 2013, when he turned 65.
“I intend to remain almost as active as I am now but on my own terms,” he said.
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