Don Lee has passed

[Gene Buchholz]

Don passed away last night due to complications with pneumonia. Don lived a full life and had fun in every aspect of it.
He will be missed by many. I could go on and on the only thing I can say is he was a great friend!!!!!!
Gene

[Dewayne]

So sad to hear, he was a great friend and he will be missed. My thoughts are with his family.

[Hardshell]

RIP Don

Hardshell
aka Steve Greene

[Caudawg]

RIP Don Lee. Say hi to Harvey for us. You can bet he is working on some sort of practical joke for your arrival.

[stickbait]

WOW....Lost another great man..RIP Don.. Thoughts are with the family..

Mark Seaters

[Hollywood]

Don you will be missed by so many. I learned a lot from you dating back to when I was a kid. Thank you for all the many great memories and helping me along in my fishing.

Kevin Johhson

[RipnRog]

RIP Don

[Mike]

Sad... I was fortunate enough to be Don's guest at the Legends dinner in Vegas last year and had a great time. Don will be missed by many. Harvey, Sonny and now Don.... Brutal

RIP Don

[WON BASSIN]

Sad to hear for sure. Don was a fine man and always had a cheerful hello for anyone that approached him. I was fortunsnt enough to have met him a few years ago, and have had many conversations with him in regards to tournament fishing and fishing in general. He will be missed, and John... You hit it on the head... Harvey's got the woopy cusion waiting for him!

Prayers sent to his family. Catch a toad Don.....

Billy Egan

[kb]

Such a big part of everything I have done for 30 years, a huge supporter of so many parts of bass fishing and the guys. This sport has a huge hole right now with the passing of Don. He was one of the great guys and such a good friend, mentor and supporter I will miss those dinners, meetings and phone calls just to see what was shaking.....they all started one way "Kent........Don Lee" and they always ended with "done deal" anytime you needed him to take care of something.....

oh yea nobody was exempt from having Don screw with them if he thought he could get one up on ya!

Going to miss you Don.....and thanks for everything!!!!

Kent Brown

[Ron C]

God Bless You, my friend. Words cannot express my gratitude to you for all that you have done for me and so many others. I will miss you dearly.

"Done Deal."

Ron Cervenka

[tfranceschi]

Don, I will miss you, as will many others. I can't tell you how Don helped me over the years. Thank you was never enough and I hope he knew how greatful I was for anything he ever did and how much respect I had for him. When he cared about you you knew it. Great man, great friend, great memories. My best to all of Don's family and friends.

Tony Franceschi

[MIKE @CCMarine]

RIP Don you will truly missed by all.

Mike Van Wagner

[Takedown]

Don;
RIP, you will be truly missed and loved by all who knew you.

[DanO]

So sorry to hear, Don was a great friend to the sport and a genuinely decent person.
DanO

[fsh4bss]

Don has been my good friend and mentor for many years. Things are just not going to be the same without his presence at our FLW tournaments. Don has been the face of Ranger and a gigantic part of Western Bass fishing, and beyond, for many, many years. His departure will leave a void in many of us. I don't know of anyone else who live a fuller or more adventurous life than Don. He extracted the heart from the watermelon and loved every minute of it. He leaves behind his wonderful wife, Peggy, his children and a host of friends who had the pleasure of knowing him.
Don, I will miss you my friend!

[Ron C]

Don was, hands down, the best rep that Ranger Boats ever had - even by today's standards. Here are a few photos that I found of Don:

[Rod Brown]

When I worked at Fish and Game and it was time for the Tournament Jamboree, Don would call and say, "I'm buying the Donuts and will see you there early that morning". He was at every one. I remember back in 1983 first meeting Don at my first WCB Pro Am and from that time on he was at just about every Pro-am I fished saying, "Good Luck Rod" in the morning on the dock at blast off. Rain or shine he was always there on the dock at blast off with a friendly smile and I will truly miss that. You will be missed and remembered Don Lee!
Sincerely, Rod Brown

[JT-Madera]

Just want to say ...... thank you for being you.. we will all miss you..

JT

[Ken Sauret]

Don was a great friend to all of us in the tournament fishing industry. You will be missed and may God keep you close forever.

[Fast Eddie]

I remember one of the last conversations I had with Don. He had a darn woodpecker pecking away at the side of his house. He would always call me with pest questions. He knew he couldn't shoot the darn thing (but we know he would've liked too). We decided he needed a fake red tail hawk model and some netting. Checked back with him a few weeks later an everything worked out.

I'm sure Don, Ron Crews, and Harvey Legends of the Sport.

God Bless you Don, you're in my prayers this Holy Week.

FE

[Bill Hutcheson]

Western Bass fishing has truly lost one of its legends with Don's passing. In my years in this industry, there have been few who have been kinder and more willing to help out than Don. He will be sorely missed. RIP Don.

[Rick G]

When I got into the boat business in 1980, Don Lee and Bart Hall were the Ranger reps here in So. Cal. As the business for Anglers Marine grew on, Don became a great competitor of ours as we battled it out for market share here in the West, Don with Ranger and Anglers Marine with Champion. He was always classy and kind to me even though we were advisarys on the sales floor. He and his sales group made us always work our hardest to try and be successful, and I will always respect him for that. When we finally became business partners and we were one of Don's last "Done Deals" as he signed us to be the Ranger Dealer here in So. Cal, I thanked him for making me work hard all those years, and I remember him telling me now we were on the "A" team. Don left Ranger in great hands, as the current Rep, Keith Tripp is as good as it gets, and I know Don still worked with Keith till the end making sure the Ranger family always grew. R.I.P. Don. You will be missed in many ways. Rick G.

[Fred Ward]

What a Great friend Don was to Lana and I. We started our ranger dealership in 1979 he was so helpful all the way. God Bless you Old Pal. He always call me Nosebodish never knew what that really meant. You lived a full life with a wonderful wife and children. Good By My friend Pat Donoho will be with you soon and well I hope to see you up there. Your old trusted friend Fred Ward

[GKramer]

Hard for me to comment every time we lose a friend. Afterall, (and the kids don't even give it a thought) the same fate awaits us all. It's somewhat ironic that Don was one of those pushing for the Silver Eagles project to be completed. Maybe he just had a good sense of perspective of the era and thought it was important that it didn't pass without acknowledgement. But what his passing reminds me (and the warm comments here seem to bear out) you really want to enjoy your friends and colleagues, forget the petty stuff and do the best you can.

[Marlowe]

Kramer,
Well said. You never get a second chance on yesterday. Another Silver Eagle has soared to the heavens.
J

[richjh]

George you sure have it right in many ways. Don Lee bird dogged me to get Harvey's mag printed, calling me even before Harvey died. He called almost every week in the months that followed. He was understanding about the turns in a road that turned out to be a very long one. I saw Bill Liston at the Del Mar Fred Hall Show and he said it was a shame Harvey never got to see the magazine. Harvey did get to read the stories though, particularly the one about him, Forrest Wood and Lee and how they all got tied together after Mike Folkestad's big catch on Clear Lake.

In the middle of that article is a very condensed history of Lee's life. You can find it on p. 14 of the Silver Eagles mag Wayne has on this site. http://www.westernbass.com/shared/mag_n ... /wb_eagles

When I interviewed Don for that story, I was fascinated. I remember saying I would like to get him and Leon Todd of Calstar in a room and just turn on the recorder. You would have ended up with a detailed history of the tackle business in California since the middle of the 20th century.

Don Lee was the first person I sent an issue to and when he said it turned out great and wanted to order more, I knew that one road had come to an end. Just a couple weeks later I got another call from Don. "I'm leaving for Shasta for the FLW event," he said. Then I heard he was in the hospital.

I kept hoping for another call.

[Jeff Huth]

This is a tough one on me, Don was one of a few people in my life other than my father, that I would consider a true mentor . I'll miss the phone calls for advice, he was always available to talk. He taught me the "business" of fishing. The phone calls he made to just check-up on you.He always made a point to find you after weigh-ins to make sure your boat was OK, he always looked after his anglers. I'll miss his practical jokes, his stories, he would remind me of things I had done years ago that I didn't even remember. The man was one of a kind.
Thanks for everything Don....Rest in peace.....

[Rich hamilton]

Thanks for the pictures guys. Kinda scary I remember that WCB photo/night. For all you young/newer guys this was the high water mark for California bass fishing. We can move forward and respect these other great folks that are still around who paved the path for the rest of us.

Thanks for everyone who posted, I love and respect you all. Richie Rich

I will see your smile again Don thanks for making me and my family feel special...

[Gary Dobyns]

Don, thank you for all the memories, practical jokes, help, and friendship. I will miss your calls and seeing you at all the events in the west. RIP my friend I’m sure going to miss you!!

[Larry Hemphill]

I was able to know Don for many years through my friend Jim Grassi. Jim and Don were very close. Jim had one of the first bass boats in California. As a guide, Don was always interested in my clients comments about Ranger boats. He especially was happy when they bought one!!! One of my fun memories was a discussion we had at a Sam Mateo ISE show about the new Ranger 488VS with a double console. We disagreed about the narrow width between the consoles and their exact width. About an hour later as I walked out of the building, I saw Don on his hands and knees - measuring the width on a display boat. He looked up at me with a half smile and said "You were right!" I wonder why I felt a little "puffed up" for a few minutes after. Nobody knew more or was more proud of those boats than Don! Thank you again Don and Ron Crews for all your help with my fishing education business! Our sport will miss you terribly.

[Fast Eddie]

For you newer guys, the photo left to right, Ron Crews, Sammy Lee, Don, Dee and his wife Terry, and Larry Viviano.

TL
FE

[Ray Coleman]

He treated folks like long lost friends even when he just met you. He will truely be missed.

[philandcarol]

We were shocked when we got back to Ca. to hear of Don being in intensive care for so long, we were late getting away this year and I always took Don some homemade soups for Christmas, he loved soup and always saved my containers on his file cabinet. But we didn't make the trip down this year before we left. We loved that man , as anyone that knew him did. The young fishermen that have everything need to read the history of bass tournaments around this area when you had flashers and 12 volt trolling motors and clothes that didn't keep you warm and dry and 19# for 10 fish won a tournament and there were 150 to 200 teams competing.Jackie Temple was one of the first women to fish a draw tournament, I fish a BASS tournament and was told I couldn't go past the state level because BASS didn't allow women, I told them they could stick there tournament you know where.Red Man just lost Sonny Reynolds I fished tournaments with him before he went to the walleye circuit , they didn't tell women they could participate, made it to 2 regionals the only woman in US to do so.We are close to losing another great friend and fisherman Pat Donaho is on hospice now. We went through Vegas on our way home so we could see him before he was gone, We're so glad we did.The older we get 70 and 80 it gets to be happening too often , Ron Crews, Harvey, Art Price, Don Lee, the early tournament directors Hal, Larry, Rich Bryant they paved the way for this sport to take off, I got my firt Ranger boat from Freds in Phoenix in '80 my parents went down to pick it up for me because I was working . Got off the subject but Don was a great friend He loved Ranger, his friends, his wife and his country and there will never be another like him. Our deepest sympathy to his family, Phil and Carol

[Skeeterman]

Sorry to hear of Dons passing.May GOD be with him and his family.