Retired Byu Leader Rex E. Lee Dies At 61

Rex E. Lee, retired president of Brigham Young University and a former U.S. solicitor general, died of respiratory failure Monday at a Provo hospital. He was 61.

Lee’s wife, Janet, was with him when he died at 1:23 p.m. MST at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, said hospital spokesman Anton Garrity. Lee was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 26 for the fourth time in less than a year, suffering from acute pneumonia.

Lee had been in poor health for most of the last decade and cited health reasons when he announced his resignation as BYU’s 10th president last June, effective on Dec. 31.