Leroy "Lee" Terrell
U.S. Army
2018
Lee was born in Prescott, Ark., but grew up about 100 miles to the northeast in Little Rock and North Little Rock. After graduating high school in 1949, Lee joined the U.S. Army in 1951 and was assigned to 373rd Armored Infantry Battalion in Germany where he attained the rank of Corporal. He received an honorable discharge in 1953 and returned to Arkansas where he enrolled in the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, home of the Golden Lions of the NCAA. After Lee achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in 1956, he was quickly hired by IBM and initially assigned to their Seattle, Wash. offices. After an admirable career that spanned more than three and a half decades in Office Administration, Marketing and Human Resources, Lee retired in 1992 and turned to fulfill his sense of civic responsibility in the not-for-profit sector.
Among Lee's charitable engagements were as Director of Human Resources for the Northside Center for Child Development in New York City, the Hall Neighbor House in Bridgeport and CTE Inc., here in Stamford. Not content to merely work nine-to-five in the nonprofit sector, Lee also volunteered his time for organizations like the Stamford Fair Housing Commission and the Personnel Commission for the City of Stamford, where he served as its Chair for three years. And there's more: Lee has also volunteered for the National Urban League Black Executive Exchange Program, the United States Department of Labor Youth Motivation Task Force and the Urban League of Southwestern Connecticut, where he also served as Chair. He's also been a board member for the Yerwood Center and currently serves on the board of the Pacific House (formerly the Shelter for the Homeless).
Lee still enjoys tennis, cooking and poker, and he loves living here in Stamford with his wife Ruby.