Roll Call Tribute

Harry Lee Godfrey 

March 10, 1939 - June 2, 2025 

On June 2, 2025, H. Lee Godfrey passed away at home after a long illness.

Lee was born on March 10, 1939 in Palestine, Texas to a librarian and a railroad man. He graduated high school in 1957 and enrolled in Tulane University on a National Merit Scholarship. After an additional stint at Texas A&M University, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1961. The brass sent him to Yale University’s Institute of Far Eastern Languages, where he mastered Mandarin Chinese. He was stationed in Taiwan, and served there for several years.

After an honorable discharge in 1965, Lee matriculated at the University of Texas in Austin, where he majored in chemistry and English literature and met the love of his life, a young lady from West Texas named Sandra Diane Sheen. Upon graduation Lee lived in Poteet, Strawberry Capital of Texas, with his dachshund Strudel, teaching high school English and coaching debate, until Sandy graduated from college. They were married at the First Baptist Church of San Angelo on August 13, 1966.

The newlyweds settled briefly in Lockhart, Texas, where Sandy taught high school and Lee began studies at the University of Texas School of Law. After a year, they moved to Austin. In law school Lee served as Managing Editor of the Texas Law Review and was honored as a Chancellor and member of Order of the Coif. He graduated with honors in May 1969.

Lee began his career practicing law at Graves Dougherty Hearon Moody & Garwood in Austin, where one of his early clients was daredevil Evel Knievel. In June 1971, his daughter Lindsey was born. In 1979 the family moved to Houston, where Lee became a partner at Wood Campbell Moody & Gibbs. In 1982 Lee joined his old friend Steve Susman to found the firm that would become Susman Godfrey.

Lee had a long career with many honors and highlights, and he was one of the top trial lawyers in the world. Alongside Steve he trained young lawyers by example and built a legendary high-stakes litigation boutique that is regularly recognized as among the very best in the country. His clients were large and varied, including aerospace and defense giant Northrup contesting an aborted sale of F-18 fighter jets, Gulf pension holders aggrieved at the invasion of their pension fund, shareholders of American Shell Oil Company opposing Royal Dutch Shell’s going-private transaction, and mineral rights holders pursuing antitrust claims over oil royalties.

Lee’s many recognitions and awards include the Anti-Defamation League’s 2007 Karen H. Susman Jurisprudence Award, established in memory of his dear friend and Steve’s wife. In October 2009 he was honored as a Texas Exes Distinguished Alumnus, and in 1996 he was nominated by President Clinton to serve as the United States Ambassador to Brazil.

Lee was committed to his community. From 1980-82 he taught Commercial Law as a visiting professor at Rice University. He argued pro bono in front of the Fifth Circuit for equal representation in the Texas Legislature. Lee and Sandy have been stalwart supporters of Houston cultural institutions such as the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet, the Shepherd School at Rice University, the Chinquapin School, Hermann Park Conservancy, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, for which he chaired the One Great Night fundraiser. In 1992 Lee endowed the Thomas H. Godfrey Presidential Scholarship in Law at the University of Texas in honor of his father.

Lee is survived by his wife, Sandra Sheen Godfrey; his daughter Lindsey Godfrey Eccles and her husband Matt Eccles; his grandchildren Thomas Lee Summers, Isabella Summers, and Tudor Godfrey Eccles; and his sister, Patricia Oxford Miller.

Lee’s family would like to recognize and thank Dr. Jay Davis, Pas Martinez, Maddie Bunch, Rebecca Schmidt, Alma Pachuca, Christan Garner, Trinidad Arriola, Annie Combate, Anne Reinoso, Brice Oyeleru, Michelle Lodico, Ernesto Galenzaga, Luisa Mufti, Chibuike Chidomere, and Sofia Tilton.

Services will be held at 11 am on Tuesday, June 17th at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.