Lee Harvey Salisbury

Lee H. Salisbury died peacefully on Sunday, March 8, 2015 leaving the stage for the last time on Bainbridge Island, Washington at the age of 87, with family present. Born on June 6, 1927 to Thomas and Mary Salisbury, his early life was spent in New York City, one of two brothers, typical children of the Depression. Lee's passion for theatrical arts began while studying engineering and mathematics at Stuyvesant High School in New YorkAfter a brief stint in a New Jersey technical school studying engineering, Lee joined the US Navy in 1943, serving in Guam and Shanghai. Upon returning to NYC at the end of WWII, he attended New York University on the GI Bill, earning a BS in '49 followed by Master of Arts in Teaching, Speech and Dramatics from Columbia University June 8, 1950. Lee spent the next seven years immersed in the world of NYC theater and radio, an experience that shaped his vocation and passions for the next seven decades.Moving west in early 1954 to direct a play for the California Parks Department in Northern California, Lee met and married Lesley Voute Hampton, a dancer and violinist choreographing the production. They were both teaching in the San Carlos School District when their first child was born, but were soon lured to Fairbanks, Alaska by Lesley's sister, Druska Schaible, then Dean of Women and head of the Biology Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Though Lee's primary teaching responsibilities at UAF were in Speech and Radio, he immediately started directing plays (his first love) on campus. Those first productions were staged in the gym, juggling rehearsals and performances around basketball games and ROTC practices. The productions shifted to Schaible Hall in 1957, where sets had to be configured around the central blackboard in the lecture hall. In 1969 a new Fine Arts Complex was built, providing Lee with his first real theater on campus. Over the next 30 years, Lee directed almost 100 plays while working at UAF. In 1993 the Fine Arts Complex theatre was renamed in his honor, The Lee H. Salisbury Theater.Lee also served for a decade as a commissioner of the Alaska Broadcast Commission, helping establish the public radio system and UAFs station, KUAC-FM. In 2007 Lee moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington to be close to his family. He continued to do play readings, meet with a group of movie buffs, enjoy many Improv performances at Bainbridge Performing Arts, and spend time with his kids and grandkids.Lee was preceded in death by his wife, Lesley, and is survived by his children Lisa, Tom, Lex, Druska, their sister Katie Egowa Beals, as well as grandchildren Alex Salisbury, Grace and Griffin Salisbury, Neva Coats Beals and Lawrence W. Beals, and great-grandchildren Nick and Jack Coats. He is remembered by his family, hundreds of students, and a multitude of Alaskan colleagues as an fine actor, stellar director, affable joke teller, the voice of Alaska One, L. Southwick the makeup artist, Dr. Drama the stacker of TV's, master of accents, and a pretty damned good singer and dancer. His kids grew up thinking that everyone read plays at the dining room table and had a piano player at parties playing show tunes and impromptu musical performances. The family would like to thank all the folks at Wyatt House, Gentiva Home Health, Island Fitness, Nakata Pool, and Island Rehab who cared for our father these last few years.There will be a private memorial service Saturday, April 18 in Poulsbo, Washington and in Fairbanks Alaska in August - date TBA. For more information please contact the family at rosiecreek55@gmail.com or cyndysalisbury@gmail.com. Please sign Lee's guestbook.