Artist, painter and art teacher, Lee was born in Christchurch and attended the Canterbury University College School of Fine Arts, as well as studying in Brittany in 1955. He painted many scenes around Banks Peninsula and also produced figure studies and woodcuts. Lee won the Kelliher Art Award and exhibited several times at the Paris Salon. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London) in 1962. He taught art at St Peter's School Cambridge (1946-1955), Waitakere High School, Takapuna Grammar (for much of the period 1956-1975), Otago Polytech (mid-1970s), and others.