Burton J. Lee III

Burton James Lee III (March 28, 1930 – November 25, 2016) was a physician and oncologist who was Physician to the President under President George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He also served on the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic.

Early life and education Burton James Lee III was born on March 28, 1930, in Manhattan, New York City, New York, to Burton J. Lee II and his wife, the former Rosamond Saltonstall Auchincloss. His other siblings were Susannah (born 1932) and Mary Josephine (born 1937). His parents, who wed in New York City on June 20, 1929, were important members of high society. His father was a banker, and his mother a member of one of the most prominent families of New England. His paternal grandfather, Burton James Lee, had been an oncologist and the first clinical director at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center after its relocation. His childhood idol was his maternal grandfather, Charles Auchincloss. Rosamond married Thomas Campbell Plowden-Wardlaw, a prominent New York attorney, on July 2, 1954, and died on November 4, 1971.

Burton Lee, Jr. married Margaret DeWolf Erskine on January 11, 1947. Burton J. Lee, Jr. died suddenly of a heart attack in July 1962, Returning to the United States, Lee rejoined the staff at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he worked as an oncologist and chemotherapist. He took a special interest in treating patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia, and lymphoma, Lee became well known for having unorthodox views on Hodgkin's disease. He argued that while the cancer could be put into remission, the cause of the illness was poorly understood and the damage to the immune system remained untreated. His views were so controversial that Memorial Sloan-Kettering officials barred him from talking to the National Cancer Institute for 10 years.

Lee was a prolific author, having contributed to or solely-authored more than 120 articles and medical books by 1989. Lee himself said that, as the panel's only practicing physician, "I was going to die before I let that commission fail..." Bush also considered Lee for the role of Special Assistant to the President for Health Policy, but once more Lee's abortion views cost him the job. But Bush chose Dr. David A. Kessler for the position instead.

President Bush appointed Lee to be Physician to the President on March 8, 1989. Colleagues counseled him against taking the position, noting that many previous Physicians to the President had been pressured into keeping presidential illnesses a secret, damaging their reputations as doctors. Lee, however, told Bush that he would resign if told to conceal a serious medical issue. Lee's April 1990 report on President Bush's health was overwhelmingly positive. Lee was criticized for not diagnosing the disease earlier. Lee also treated Bush for intestinal flu after the president vomited and collapsed during a dinner at the home of the Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa in January 1992. Bush had ignored Lee's advice to skip the dinner. In November 1989, Bush appointed Lee to the newly created Presidential Drug Advisory Council, whose mission was to advise the President of the United States on ways to combat illegal drugs.

Bill Clinton defeated George H. W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election of 1992. Lee agreed to stay on as Physician to the President, supervising Clinton's medical care, until Clinton appointed a new physician. Lee was abruptly fired on January 28, 1993, before a new physician had been named after he refused to inject the president with an unknown medication. Lee was told the medication was for Clinton's allergies, but no records verifying the contents of the vial could be produced. Efn|Clinton's allergist in Arkansas, Dr. Kelsy J. Caplinger, later verified that the vial did, in fact, contain allergy medication. Caplinger did not follow normal procedure in writing a physician's note about the vial, as he believed that a direct hand-off to Clinton's staff ensured the content's security and identification. The New York Times reported that Lee acted in accordance with standard medical procedures. Their marriage ended in divorce. The couple had three children: Chip, Jackie, and Roz. Lee then married Ann Kelly, and was step-father to her three children from her first marriage: Debbie, Wendy, and Leigh.

Lee died of bladder cancer at his home in Vero Beach on November 25, 2016, aged 86.