Donald John Lee (July 24, 1927 – March 17, 2011) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, W.D. Pa.) is a federal trial court that sits in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federa ...

Education and career

Born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Lee was in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, from 1945 to 1947. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 1950 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

Duquesne University School of Law The Thomas R. Kline School of Law is the law school of Duquesne University, a private Catholic university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is approved by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Sch ...

in 1954. He was in private practice in Pittsburgh from 1954 to 1956. He was a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

for Judge

Rabe Marsh Rabe Ferguson Marsh Jr. (April 26, 1905 – April 19, 1993) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Education and career Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Marsh received ...

of the

from 1957 to 1958. He was in private practice in Pittsburgh from 1958 to 1984. He was a councilman of the Borough of Green Tree, Pennsylvania from 1961 to 1963. He was a special assistant state attorney general of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1974. He was a Solicitor for the Borough of Green Tree, Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1988. He was a Judge on the Court of Common Pleas of

Allegheny County Allegheny County ( ) is a county in Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, after Philadelphia County. Its county seat and most populous city is Pit ...

from 1984 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1990.

Federal judicial service

Lee was a United States District Judge of the

. Lee was nominated by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

on November 9, 1989, to a seat vacated by Judge Hubert Irving Teitelbaum. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on March 9, 1990, and received his commission on March 12, 1990. He assumed senior status on April 6, 2000, serving in that status until his death on March 17, 2011.

References

Sources

FJC Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Donald John 1927 births 2011 deaths Duquesne University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush United States Navy sailors University of Pittsburgh alumni