Fleming Lee Papers

Fleming Lee was born Fleming Lee Blitch on December 19, 1933 in St. Augustine, Florida. His parents Loonis Blitch and Jean Frances Fleming Blitch had previously resided in Ocala, Florida, but moved to St. Augustine during the Great Depression so that Loonis could take a job as County Agricultural Agent. Lee began school in St. Augustine, but the family moved to Gainesville in 1941 where he attended J.J. Finley School, Gainesville High School and P.K. Yonge Laboratory School. He skipped the 12th grade and enrolled at the University of Florida in 1951. He received his B.A. in English in 1955, an M.A. in English and German Literature in 1959 and his Juris Doctorate degree in 1976. He went on to teach as an Instructor of English at Washington State University, Miami University of Ohio and Western College for Women and Florida Atlantic University. He also practiced law from 1978-1986 in Washington, D.C. and from 1987-2003 in central Florida.

His first book, The Amazing Adventures of Peter Grunt, was published in 1963 by J.B. Lippincott Company. That year it won the Parents' Magazine "Best Work of Juvenile Fiction" award. The same year Lee was also a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Fellow. Other notable publications by Lee were The Last Dragon and his collaboration with Leslie Charteris on the The Saint series. In 1983, he married Julia Boone and now resides in DeLand, Fla.