Barbara F. Lee

Barbara Fish Lee was raised in a middle-class Jewish family in West Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Sidney and Ruth Fish.[2] Her father was a dentist and her mother a homemaker. In high school, she was a cheerleader and basketball player. Lee became a Girl Scout and ran for student government with the encouragement of her grandmother, a suffragist. Lee's grandmother also instilled her early interest in politics.[2]

Lee graduated from the all-women Simmons College in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in Education and French Literature.[2] She earned her master's degree in Social Work from Boston University. Lee also received an honorary degree in 2001 from Simmons College.[5]

Simmons College presented Lee with a Lifetime Achievement Award at her 50th college reunion in 2017. At the ceremony, Lee said, “My experience at Simmons reshaped my view of the world. It showed me that women can be extraordinary leaders".[2]

Barbara Lee was employed at a middle school teaching French soon after graduating from Simmons.[2]

Treasurer Steven Grossman offered Lee her first board appointment for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston. Grossman believed that Lee had "an enormous amount of talent, energy, and commitment to communal service" that "needed a little bit of water to reach full flower".[5]

After Lee was appointed to Brandeis University's board of women's studies, Lee held several private events to determine what areas to invest in with her money. There, Lee became interested in “strategic philanthropy”, which is a form of philanthropy that uses money as a way to promote changes in society instead of spending it in excessive displays of consumerism.[2] Lee said about the start of her philanthropic career, "I found myself in a position to empower women beyond my community. I decided to focus on women’s political leadership—and build a pipeline to the presidency".[6]

Barbara Lee founded the Barbara Lee Family Foundation in 1998. The Foundation's goal is to produce "nonpartisan, pragmatic research for women candidates”.[6] The Foundation works as another way to promote gender equality in politics. The Foundation is currently led by Barbara Lee alongside the Executive Director, Amanda Hunter.

The Barbara Lee Family Foundation advocates for female presidential candidates and promotes the possibility of a successful female presidential candidate. The Foundation supports women in lower political positions as well as presidential candidates, such as women running for gubernatorial positions. Lee's philosophy is that, "If we want to elect a woman president, one of the ways to do that is to elect more women governors".[5]

"Women are more likely to be engaged in politics, to vote, and even consider running for office themselves when they see more women in public office," says Lee.[5]

Lee personally identifies as a Democrat, but her foundation is bipartisan.

The then Barbara Fish married Thomas H. Lee in 1968. Lee was a private investor. Thomas Lee began to gain wealth in 1974 when he created his own private equity investment firm. He bought and sold a series of companies, making him “the envy of Wall Street”.[2]

The couple had two sons, Zach (born 1971) and Robbie Lee. Lee foreshadowed her own future activism when she gifted all the women at her son Zach's first birthday with copies of the first Ms. magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes.[2]

Barbara Lee originally filed for divorce from her husband in 1987 but ended the petition two years later. Her husband had an affair in 1993 with a stockbroker who was later accused of extortion. The Lees officially ended their marriage in 1995, leaving Barbara Fish Lee with half of their combined personal wealth. Her husband's value in late 1994 was over $420 million.[2]

• Official website