Bob Lee, 66, Remembered on Martha's Vineyard

Many on Martha's Vineyard are mourning the death of Bob Lee, a co-founder of the Island's community radio station WVVY-LP.

According to the Martha's Vineyard Times, Lee was 66 when he died Aug. 11 near his home in West Tisbury.

On Facebook and in emails and texts to Martha's Vineyard Patch, Islanders have been reacting to the news of Lee's death.

"He was one of our own, and many will miss him," wrote Wendy Arnell Brophy in an email to Patch. "He had wit, charm and intellect."

"I will miss seeing you on Main Street but your presence remains everywhere on this Island," Tisbury selectman and Island musician Tristan Israel posted on Lee's Facebook page.

Vineyard poet William Waterway also posted a tribute on Lee's Facebook timeline:

for Bob:

from our birth
on this Earth
our hearts drum
as though One
with profound percussion
we live, we work, we love
swim under sun above
we play music; have fun
one day, sadly, we succumb

(William Waterway)

A member of the Jim Thomas Spiritual Choir, which performs a free concert at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m., Lee is remembered by Thomas on the choir's website in a tribute which begins:

"Bob Lee had been in frail health, but yesterday’s news of his passing came as a shock. He sang and drummed with the Spirituals Choir when we performed our annual lunchtime concert at the Oak Bluffs senior center last Thursday."

Lee "had shown signs of Alzheimer's over the past couple of years and was plagued by other physical ailments," his friend Brophy told MV Patch.

He died while swimming in the Island Cohousing pond, she said.

Did you know Bob Lee? How will you remember him? Tell us in the comments.

MV Patch will post memorial service information when it becomes available. For an email update, please follow our Obituaries group.