James T. Lee

James Thomas Lee (October 2, 1877 – January 3, 1968) He met his wife when they were both teaching in Troy. By 1910, his career was focused primarily on real estate development, and was eventually responsible for building more than two hundred residential and commercial buildings. His company, of which he was president, was the real-estate focused Shelton Holding Corporation. of Manhattan, New York City, which has been described as "the most luxurious and powerful residential building in New York City".

Personal life On October 7, 1903, Lee was married to teacher Margaret Ann Merritt (1880–1943), who had been born in New York City to Irish immigrants from County Clare, Thomas Merritt and Maria, Curry. Together, they were the parents of:

Marion Merritt Lee (1906–1947), who married John Joseph Ryan Jr. (1904–1963), a partner at Bache & Co., in 1927 and had issue, including Mary Cecil, married to English-American businessman and heir William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil. Janet Norton Lee (1907–1989), who married John Vernou Bouvier III (1891–1957) in 1928. They divorced in 1940 and she remarried to Hugh Dudley Auchincloss (1897–1976) in 1942. After his death, she married Bingham Willing Morris (1906–1996) in 1979. Margaret Winifred Lee (1912–1991), who married Franklin D'Olier Jr. (1911–2000), a son of Franklin D'Olier and uncle to F. D. Reeve, in 1936.

Lee joined East Hampton's Maidstone Club in 1925. After a funeral at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan, he was buried alongside his parents at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY.

Descendants Through his eldest daughter, Marion, he was the grandfather of two girls, Joan Ryan (1929–1997), and Mary Lee Ryan (1931–2017), the wife of William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, owner of Biltmore. He also had two grandsons through his daughter Marion. Through his daughter Janet, he was the grandfather of three girls, First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1929–1994), the wife of John F. Kennedy, and Aristotle Onassis; Caroline Lee Bouvier (1933–2019), the wife of Michael Temple Canfield, Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł, Herbert Ross; and Janet Jennings Auchincloss (1945–1985), who married Lewis Polk Rutherfurd. He had one grandson through daughter Janet, named James Lee Auchincloss. Through his daughter Margaret Winifred, he was the grandfather of Anne C. d'Olier and Winifred Lee d'Olier, who married prominent investment banker Anthony Coats Brown in 1962.