Br. Arthur (Artie) W. Lee, SJ, died July 16, 2025, at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California, at age 99. He was a Jesuit brother for almost 59 years, doing a variety of assignments at the Jesuit novitiate in Santa Barbara and for 45 years at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco.
Arthur Lee was born in Singapore, on May 21, 1926, the son of Lee Goh Hok and Tan Suay Let. He received his early education in Singapore and worked as a crew member on merchant ships. He arrived in San Francisco in the 1950s and worked as a cook for the Jesuit Community of St. Ignatius High School. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1961 and later discerned a vocation as a Jesuit brother and entered the novitiate in Los Gatos on July 30, 1966, taking his vows two years later.
His first assignment was to the staff of the newly opened Jesuit novitiate in Santa Barbara in 1968, where he served as cook, purchasing agent and gardener. In 1976 he came back to San Francisco and played many roles in the St. Ignatius College Prep school and Jesuit community. At various times, he was director of the school’s busy printing office, managed the bookstore, delivered AV services to the classrooms, was an assistant tennis coach and school bus driver, and also handled the mailroom service. In 2021 he moved to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center for a ministry of prayer for the Church and the Society of Jesus.
The Funeral Mass will be held Wednesday, August 6, 2025, 11:15 a.m. at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, with inurnment to follow at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.
Funeral Mass
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
11:15am
Chapel of Sacred Heart Jesuit Center
Los Gatos, CA
Click here or below for livestream.
