As an undergrad at the University of South Carolina, Bill Lee accomplished the reverse of many of us. He did not find the career he sought – he majored in engineering – but he did find the impressive future attorney Malinda Hamann and married her. After a few years working as an engineer, Bill went to Georgia State University where he studied Physics. His exploits in Georgia led to one Physics Ph.D. and two sons; Malinda played an important role in each of these achievements.
I met Bill soon after when he joined the Fermilab Tevatron’s DZero collaboration as a postdoc in the Florida State University group. Every particle physics experiment wishes it had more collaborators like Bill. While he played a significant role in heavy flavor physics analyses, Bill spent most of his efforts ensuring that the collaboration’s data lacked in neither quality nor quantity. By the time DZero finished taking data in 2011, Bill had held a few different roles supporting detector operations including several years as a run coordinator.
Soon after the Tevatron finished running, Bill became a teacher, but quickly returned to Fermilab and joined the NOvA experiment. True to form, Bill also took on several roles supporting experiments including Fermilab Underground Coordinator where he was responsible for operations in Fermilab’s underground experimental area. Bill’s domain, 350 feet underground, received high intensity beams of neutrinos for the NOvA, MINERvA, and MINOS experiments.
Bill’s passions, talents, and skills combined to make him an excellent “Lord of the Underworld.” In addition to running operations this job required Bill to be a tour guide, a role he excelled in. He led tours for visiting VIPs, friends, friends of friends and many others who always received a memorable experience tailored to their background and interest. Bill liked to note that because neutrinos have such a small interaction cross section, it was safe to tour the area even while the machine was running. I expect tourist who didn’t understand the phrase “interaction cross section” got a different explanation of the same phenomenon.
Bill was a great tour guide because teaching was also one of his passions. He taught courses in physics at different levels and also trained new shifters to operate the DZero detector – these students ranged from starting graduate students to celebrated senior faculty members; Bill was adept at getting the best out of each of them.
Bill’s summary on his own LinkedIn page reads “I love making experiments work. Then I make them work better.” And “Teaching is also a passion of mine.” That summed up well his professional interests. While these characteristics made Bill an ideal collaborator, they are not what usually lead to a tenured faculty job – a position Bill might have enjoyed. Instead, different institutions hired him at one time or another and kept him at Fermilab making the experiments work and then work better. These included Florida State University, Northern Illinois University, and Fermilab itself. When Bill was wondering about his next job, his friends and collaborators helped him find a way to stay where he belonged: teasing the best data out of experiments and improving the skills of experimenters.
Playing sports was not one of Bill’s passions. However, he recognized the value in the Fermilab softball league and he loved being part of it. When the Boomers needed a new captain, Bill stepped in to keep his team alive. Bill was a fine captain whose organizational skills and diligence made for a welcoming environment where everybody was assured of equal playing time. Consequently, the Lee era was notable for happy players, snazzy jerseys, and losing records.
Bill Lee died on July 30 at the age of 51 after struggling with cancer during the final years of his life. He is survived by his sons Quentin and Ben as well as his wife Malinda. He also leaves behind many friends who were grateful to have had such an intelligent and capable colleague and friend who worked tirelessly to ensure that his collaborators got the data they needed to hunt for new particles, precisely measure the characteristics of known ones, and probe the mysteries of nature. The datasets from DZero Run II and Fermilab’s current crop of underground experiments stand as testaments to Bill’s efforts and talent and that is all the professional recognition he sought for himself.
