Obituary

Francis Valentine Toldervy Lee, one of the best-known electrical engineers of the Pacific Coast, died on August 17, 1913, at Victoria, B. C. Mr. Lee was born at Winchester, England, August 28, 1870, the son of Francis V. T. Lee of Shropshire, an officer of the Queen´s Own Light Infantry. His early-education was received at the Manchester Grammar School, England, and afterwards he attended the College Communal, Boulogne, France. He came to Sherbrooke, Canada, in 1887, and for the greater part of three years was in the service of the Canadian Pacific Railway as private secretary to the division superintendent. He resigned from railroad service to supplement that part of the school training that he had received abroad, with a more adequate technical training in this country. Shortly after his resignation he went to Victoria, B. C., and thence on a trip home to England, after which he returned to New York, where he entered the service of the Manhattan Electric Company in order to gain experience that would enable him to test his liking for electrical engineering. Here he came in contact with the late Dr. F. A. C. Perrine, professor of electrical engineering in Stanford University, California, and there resulted one of the strongest friendships of his life. Often a preceptor exercises a very great influence on the life and personality of a student; particularly is this true when they come as intimately in contact as did Dr. Perrine and Mr. Lee, who had now entered Stanford University and was working his way through, as secretary and general laboratory assistant to Dr. Perrine.