- December 25, 2024
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Jim Lee, who served as a volunteer with the Palm Coast Fire Department for over 30 years after retiring with the rank of captain in the New York City Fire Department, died on June 15. He was 92.
“As soon as he came down here in 1992, he started to get involved. He was a firefighter during the 1998 fires,” said PCFD Lt. Patrick Juliano, the department’s public information officer.
Lee was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 21, 1931, served in the Air Force during the Korean War and joined the FDNY in 1961.
He became active in the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization of Black firefighters in New York City that was created in 1940 to fight segregation and discrimination within the department. Lee rose to the office of president of the organization, and he was also a founding member of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters.
As president of the Vulcan Society he helped implement the Godfather program which paired Vulcan Society members with probationary firefighters, specifically helping women of color enter the FDNY.
“When he got hired in the New York City Fire Department, there were still racial overtones,” Juliano said. “Think of what he overcame, his involvement with the Vulcan Society, what they accomplished with minorities and women catching on with the fire department. He worked some of the most difficult times in New York City, during some of the toughest fires they had during the ’70s and ’80s with 3/4-inch boots, long trench coats, and they weren’t always wearing air packs.”
Lee and his wife Elva were original members of the African American Cultural Society in Palm Coast and were involved with a number of other organizations. He was a longtime Fire Police lieutenant with the PCFD. After retiring and becoming an associate member of the department, he remained active.
“He helped out at special events, and he was always at any event the volunteers hosted,” Juliano said. “He liked to mentor our officers. He used to say, ‘Don’t keep your hands in your pocket. You can’t react if your hands are in the pocket.’ He’d sit with the crew at fire stations at night and chat with them. He was really a great guy. He liked to talk to everybody.”
Lee is survived by Elva, his wife of 72 years, four children, 10 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren, one great-great grandchild and a host of nieces and nephews.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Lee family and our heartfelt appreciation for sharing Mr. Lee with us for all these years,” the PCFD wrote on its Facebook page.
An inurnment with military honors will be held for Lee at 12:30 p.m. June 27 at Jacksonville National Cemetery, 4083 Lannie Rd., Jacksonville.
