Lee earned his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Cornell University, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Big Red football team. After earning an MBA with honors from Harvard University, he returned to Pittsburgh to work in finance for the U.S. Steel Corp.

After that, Lee became chief financial officer of Penn Central Co. and was involved in managing the company’s non-railroad assets, including its recreational, energy, and real estate assets.

He then became chief financial officer of Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., where he played a key role in the sale of the company to the Coca Cola Co.

In 1983, Lee joined GTE Corp. as senior vice president of finance and, in 1986, was named senior vice president of finance and planning. He was elected President and Director in December 1988 and was elected Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer in 1992.

In 2000, GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon Communications Inc. Lee served as chairman and co-chief executive of Verizon from June 2000 to March 2002 and non-executive chairman of the board from April 2002 to December 2003. .

He has also served on the boards of DirecTV, Marathon Oil Corp., Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Procter & Gamble, Travelers Cos., Inc., United Technologies Corporation, US Steel and Verizon. Additionally, he served on the Presidential National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee under George HW Bush and Bill Clinton.

Lee has also served as a member of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, the Financial Executives Institute, and the Advisory Committee of the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. He also served for several years as a Trustee Emeritus and Presidential Advisor of Cornell University and a member of the Council of Scholars at Weill Cornell Medical College for approximately two decades.

“A steadfast champion of education, Chuck and his wife Ilda, along with the Lee Family Foundation, have provided leadership support to Weill Cornell Medicine’s dual MD-MBA and Ph.D-MBA programs, run in partnership with the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Cornell. Management and dedicated to empowering students to combine their passions for science and medicine with entrepreneurship,” the Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Fellows said in a statement.

“The Lee Family Scholarship, created through their generosity, provides a full scholarship for the Accelerated MBA Program to one dual degree student per year. When he was President and CEO of GTE, Chuck also established the GTE Scholarship for Medical Students,” the statement read.

“Chuck exemplified what it means to be a good person, and his friendship, selflessness and belief in advancing the common good will be sorely missed,” the statement read.

Known to his family as “Pappy”, Lee was very proud of his family, especially his children and grandchildren. He is survived by his wife, Ilda; their five children, Douglas, Dana, Debra, Dawn and Daryn, and their spouses; and 16 grandchildren.

An avid golf player, Lee was a member of the Stanwich Club, a founding member of the Glen Arbor Golf Club and past president of the Blind Brook Club. He especially enjoyed taking his grandchildren to the course to play a round and share his love of the game.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. at Second Congregational Church in Greenwich.

Leo P. Gallagher & Son Funeral Home made arrangements. Memorial donations may be made for cancer research to Weill Cornell Medicine, 1300 York Ave., Box 314, New York, NY 10065.