Annie Lee, an internationally acclaimed artist who was a major supporter of the Tom Joyner Foundation’s effort to raise money for historically Black colleges and universities, died on November 24 in Henderson, Nevada. She was 79 years old.
Lee was a native of Alabama and grew up in Chicago. She graduated from Mundelein College in Chicago and took a job as clerk in the engineering department of a railroad. She took classes at night and in eight years earned a master’s degree in interdisciplinary art at Loyola University of Chicago.
Lee did not begin her artistic career until age 40. She is known for painting African Americans with no facial features. She donated many of her works to raise money for HBCUs through the Tom Joyner Foundation.
