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Lee Elected Foundation President
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about the Foundation's leaders
 John
Marshall Lee, CLU, RHU, from Fairfield, Connecticut, was
the 2004 MDRT Foundation President.
Lee, along with the other MDRT Foundation officers and the Board of Trustees,
officially took office September 1, 2003.
As a personal goal for his Presidential year, Lee would like to extend “an
invitation to MDRT members around the world to share themselves by volunteering,
not only
in their home communities, but through activities, grants or working at the
Foundation Booth during the Annual Meeting.”
“We’d [the Foundation] like to hear from people,” Lee said, “about steps they
have taken in their communities to get involved through using their time, talent
and treasure to make a difference. We’d like to have the opportunity to join
with them to make that difference, to better the quality of life for people.
We’d also like to increase our participation in international projects.”
Lee, whose slogan is “let us help you live,” has been an MDRT member for 35
years. Recently inducted into the Foundation’s Excalibur Society (an honor
for those who have contributed more than $50,000 to the MDRT Foundation), Lee
has served on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees since 1999. He’s received
four Qualify of Life grants, most recently in 2000 for the Trust for Wildlife
Inc., an environmental education organization located in Shaftsbury, Vermont.
He has volunteered frequently for the Foundation’s annual Phonathon, and in
1996 served as chair of that committee. Lee also has participated in all three
of the Foundation’s hands-on projects (where members and staff not only organized
the project but did much of the actual physical work): the Habitat for Humanity
home building project, Dallas, Texas, in 1994; and both Kids Around the World
playground building projects, in Trinidad and Tobago, in February 2002, and
in Los Angeles, California, in February 2003.
Lee’s philanthropic efforts expand beyond his work with the Foundation. He
has been an active member of the Fairfield Rotary Club for 27 years, serving
as president in 1971–1972. He has also worked with the Fairfield Drug Advisory
Board; Prospect House, a homeless shelter in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Mercy
Learning Center, a literacy and skills center for low-income women in Bridgeport;
as well as numerous other charitable organizations.
Although serving on charitable committees is important, Lee said, it is equally
as vital that charities have people who work one-on-one with those who need
help. After many years of serving on charitable committees, Lee wanted to get
back to the experience of serving on a more personal level. This year, Lee
achieved this goal through the Mercy Learning Center. He tutored a woman in
math to help her prepare for her GED (high school equivalency test). He also
read to an inner-city sixth grade class twice a month.
No stranger to leadership positions, Lee has served on nearly 20 MDRT committees
and task forces, including the Leadership Committee; the Annual Meeting Program
Development Committee; the Annual Meeting Program General Arrangements Committee;
the Constitution and Bylaws Committee; the First-Time Orientation Task Force;
and the Membership Communications Committee.
He has been actively involved in the industry, acting as
president of both the Bridgeport Life Underwriters and
the Connecticut State Association of Life
Underwriters Board, as well as chairman of the Life Underwriters Political
Action Committee (Connecticut).
A graduate of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, Lee has been married
to his wife, Mary Lou Morong, for 10 years. Morong is a reading specialist
for primary school-age children. Together they have three adult children
and two grandchildren. Read
about the Foundation's leaders
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