Lee has a Bachelor of Science degree from Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated in January 1971, majoring in Elementary Education and English. Lee then spent a 40 year career involved in Social and Health Insurance programs, first with the City of New York, then with the Federal government, and after his retirement from the Federal government in January 2004, he worked for an additional eight years as an Advocacy Operations and Policy Development Manager for a company that qualified public hospital patients in Los Angeles County for Medi-Cal (Medicaid).

Since his retirement in September 2012, Lee has edited and self-published a childhood friend's book, "Eyes Of Emerald," and its sequel, "Eyes Of Emerald Part 2: Sammy's Return." In 2014, Lee published a book of his poems, entitled, "A Reflection Of My Life: Poems From My Young Adulthood." The 26 poems in the book were written during the period 1970 through 1983. In 1998, Lee wrote, in collaboration with a childhood friend, an article that was published in Back in the Bronx, a quarterly publication, about growing up in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. His latest book, which is a collaboration with his childhood friend of over 63 years, expands upon the Back in the Bronx article. The book is entitled, "Growing Up in the Shadow of Yankee Stadium in the '50s and '60s.