Our leaders

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Gary Lee grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts between 1970 and '74. His studies there centered on English literature and modern languages. He began his reporting career at Andover as a writer for the campus newspaper, and general manager of the school's radio station. Lee graduated from Andover in 1974, the school's first co-educational class. Lee completed his secondary school education in studies at Uppingham School, a private academy in Rutland County, England. Lee attended Amherst College and graduated cum laude in 1979, with a double major in Russian language and Development Studies with particular interest in Africa. He was editor in chief of the Amherst Student, the campus newspaper, an avid track runner, and dj of a jazz radio program. Lee is an American journalist with a focus on foreign policy, travel writing and environmental issues. He wrote for The Washington Post as well as Time. He speaks five languages including Russian, German, French and Spanish, and he was The Washington Post's Moscow bureau chief. He was elected to the position of charter trustee at Phillips Academy in 2009. In 2007, he left the Washington Post to become a freelance journalist. He was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for foreign coverage and won the Lowell Thomas Award for travel journalism for his coverage of 9/11.  In 2021, he was named Managing Editor of The Oklahoma Eagle, a weekly newspaper in the Black Wall Street area of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has led the paper to several awards. He is the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists’ “Journalist of Distinction” Awardee! From @TIME to @washingtonpost to Managing Editor at @oklahoma_eagle, his groundbreaking work resonates across the African Diaspora.