Bob Lee, a key member of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP), founder of the original Rainbow Coalition in Chicago, and self-described lifelong community organizer, passed away Tuesday March 21, 2017 after a battle with cancer. He was seventy-four years old. He leaves behind his wife Faiza, two brothers, a son, and a long list of activists and organizers influenced by his dedication to the poor and underserved.

I last saw Bob Lee less than two weeks before his death in his hospital room in Houston, Texas. Still the consummate organizer, he was trying to organize the hospital’s nurses and dining staff from the confines of his hospital bed. As I watched his efforts in amazement, Bob reminded me that “one should never pass up an opportunity to organize those in need.”

Bob Lee, named Robert E. Lee, III, was born on December 16, 1942, to Robert and Selma Lee. He grew up in Houston, Texas where he attended Phillis Wheatley High School along with two other deceased infamous classmates, Houston congressman Mickey Leland, and Carl Hampton, slain leader of People’s Party II, a local black revolutionary group inspired by the Black Panthers whose name was suggested by Lee to avoid police repression, all to no avail.