Obituary of Dominic Fred Lee
Dominic Fred Lee, born August 4, 1962, in Hong Kong, to Luke Lee and Joan Chiang Lee, passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 23, 2025, in Houston, Texas. Dominic was preceded in death by his older brother, Francis Lee, and his father, Luke Lee. Exactly one week later, his mother, Joan Chiang Lee, was also called home to be with the Lord.
Dominic is survived by his son Frederick Alexander Lee, his only love, Jun Huang, older brother Felix Lee (husband Joseph Lo), younger sister Margaret Pinkston (husband Paul Pinkston), niece Teresa Pinkston, and nephew Luke Pinkston.
Dominic was born a genius. School was easy for him, and when there was a competition of any kind, he was almost always in first place. He also played the piano beautifully, was an amazing artist, and loved food, so he was a great self-taught chef. There was not much he could not do, except dissect an animal in science class in high school.
Dominic attended primary school in Hong Kong, intermediate school in Mauritius, finished high school in Houston, went off to Indiana to the University of Notre Dame for his undergraduate studies, and then returned to Houston to complete his master's and PhD in Materials Science at the University of Houston. Upon graduating, he worked for the University of Houston until he made his home in Knoxville, TN, where he worked for the Oakridge National Lab as a Research and Development staff for 25 years before retiring.
In his lifetime as a scientist, Dominic had many accolades. Together with others and some on his own, Dominic had hundreds of patents and published over 300 papers on scientific journals and well referenced by peers. He and his group have won many scientific awards, including the prestigious US R&D 100 Awards. He’s met every president from Ronald Reagan on, with the exception of Donald Trump since that was a pandemic year, and Dominic retired soon after. He was also in the book of Guinness World Records for his scientific research. He hung out with Nobel laureates like we hang out with our neighbors.
Although Dominic only lived to be 62 years old, he made a significant impact in this world through his work. But Dominic’s biggest accomplishment in life was not his work. His biggest accomplishment in life was being a father. Dominic met Jun Huang via mutual friends. He was attracted to her because he had finally met someone smart, if not smarter, than him. Jun graduated with a similar degree from Cambridge University. Soon after they married, they welcomed Alex into the world at a mere 27 weeks old. Alex fought like a champ. Today, Alex is 6 feet tall and towers over almost everyone in his presence. Alex just got accepted and will be attending the University of Michigan Medical School this Fall to study Pharmacology. Knowing that Alex got into a graduate school program gave Dominic the peace he needed before he left this earth. He felt like his masterpiece work was finally finished.
A private family graveside service will be held at Forest Park East on Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 3 pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the charity of your choice. Dominic would love everyone to continue to promote the fascinating world of science with young scholars.
The family would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers this past year while Dominic called Houston home again, and those who cared or advocated for him at Encompass Rehab, CarePatrol, the Methodist Hospital, TIRR, Holmes Prosthetic Center, Braeswood Estates Senior Living, The Gardens of Bellaire, and Houston Hospice.