William States Lee III

William States Lee III, popularly known as Bill Lee (born in Charlotte, North Carolina) in 1929 and was a Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University in Civil Engineering. After serving in the U.S. Navy SeaBees, Lee joined Duke Power’s engineering department in 1955 as a junior engineer. He was promoted to engineering vice president in 1965, engineering and construction senior vice president in 1971 and executive vice president in 1976. He became president and chief operating officer of Duke Power Company in 1978 and chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1982.

Lee retired from Duke Power in 1994. He died in 1996. A popular man and supporter of education, the College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was named in his honor in 1994, as was the "Bill Lee Freeway", a stretch of Interstate Highway 77 north from Charlotte, and Duke Energy's William States Lee III Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina.