TACOMA, Wash. -- John Joseph Lee, 81, of 8201 N. Sixth Ave., died at home April 27, 2010, of an apparent heart attack. He was born March 6, 1929, in Salem, Mass., and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1950, serving in Korea. He graduated from Merrimack College in 1956 with a degree in business administration. Two weeks after graduating, he joined the Veterans Administration as assistant personnel director of the West Haven, Conn., VA Hospital. In 1957 he was promoted and transferred to the VA Hospital in Manchester. N.H. It was there that he met his wife of 50 years, Josephine Mary Klocek. He spent the next 10 years working in personnel departments for the Veterans Administration across the country. Lee is survived by his wife, Josephine, and six of his seven children: Rosemary Slote, Patricia Familetto, Michael Lee, David Lee, Stacia Lee, Maryann Hogarth and eleven grandchildren. IN HIS LIFE: In 1970, while attached to the VA hospital in Gainesville, Fla., he received his masters degree in hospital administration from the University of Florida. In 1973, he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he took the position as executive assistant to the associate chief medical director. He was next assigned to direct the 191-bed VA hospital in Livermore, Calif., and from there he took the post as hospital director of the 400-bed VA hospital in Vancouver, Wash. He oversaw the consolidation of both the Portland, Ore., and Vancouver hospitals and went on to serve as director of the VA hospital in Long Beach, Calif., before returning to Washington, D.C. In 1986 he was appointed the regional director of the Mid-Atlantic Region. He served as regional director until 1989, when he retired after 36 years of distinguished service to the Veterans Administration. He went on to start his own hospital consulting firm, Lee and Associates, which was based in Durham, N.C. In 1999, at the age of 70, he retired and moved to Mesa, Ariz., and after nine years moved once again to Tacoma, Wash., to be close to his children and grandchildren. SERVICES: The funeral was yesterday in Saint Patrick's Church, 1001 N. J St., Tacoma, Wash. He will be laid to rest in St. Hedwig's Cemetery, Bedford, N.H., Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. For more information and guest book, please visit www.bouffordfuneralhome.com.