David Cooper Blee
Saturday 4th of July 1953 - Sunday 29th of December 2019

Services
Visitation
Vigil
David Cooper Blee, a noted nuclear industry expert, who also
served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary and later Director of Public Affairs for
the U.S. Department of Energy in the Reagan Administration, died on December 29
near his family farm in Paris, Kentucky. He was 66.
Mr. Blee began a long career in national politics managing
numerous political campaigns, including as campaign manager in 1982 for U.S.
Senate candidate Prescott Bush in Connecticut, and later served as Chief of
Staff for U.S. Representative Connie Mack of Florida. Mr. Blee went on to serve as (acting)
Assistant Secretary of Energy in the Reagan administration, as Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Energy, and then in a series of roles advocating for new
nuclear energy. At the time of his
death, he was serving as the Executive Director of the United States Nuclear
Infrastructure Council, and Managing Director and founder of the Forrestal
Group, a strategic management group in the nuclear energy and infrastructure
industry.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Blee was an Executive Vice
President for NAC International, a U.S.-based energy services and technology
company, where he directed the company’s worldwide consulting group, and as a
Senior Vice President for the D.C.-based strategic communications firm of
Robinson, Lake, Lerer and Montgomery.
A passionate advocate for thoroughbred racing, Mr. Blee was
a co-founder and director of the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), the
Kentucky horse industry’s leading political advocacy organization, and also
served on the Executive Committee and as vice president of Runnymede Farm, the
oldest continuously-operated thoroughbred breeding farm in Kentucky.
A son and namesake of the legendary OSS operative and CIA
counter-intelligence chief, David H. Blee, and the late Margaret Blee, David
was born in Karachi, Pakistan on July 4, 1953 and spent his formative years overseas, most
notably in India. Mr. Blee was a noted
hunter and conservationist, having been Knighted in the International Order of
St. Hubertus, an ancient international hunting fraternity. He was a member of
the Keeneland Club, the Iroquois Hunt Club, Maryland’s Gibson Island Club, the
George Town Club, the Georgetown Assembly, a dancing society dating back to the
early the 18th Century, and a member of the Lumen Institute, a
Catholic faith-based leadership group that supports the mentoring of young
people and feeding the homeless. Mr. Blee earned a B.A. in economics from
Dickinson College.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Elizabeth (Biz) Clay Blee;
three children Cooper, Elizabeth, and Augustus Blee; and brothers Richard, John
and Robert and twin sister Elizabeth.
A Visitation will be held Thursday, Jan. 2, from 5-8 p.m., with a Vigil Service from 8:00p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Milward-Broadway, 159 N. Broadway, Lexington, KY 40507. A Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, Jan. 3, at 11 a.m. at Church of the Annunciation, 1007 Main Street, Paris, KY. 40361. A Memorial Mass will be held at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church 3513 N St., NW, Washington, DC, in Georgetown, on Monday, January 13, at 10:30 am.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations could
be made to the Leadership Training Program of Bethesda, MD, or Georgetown
Preparatory School Scholarship Fund.
www.milwardfuneral.com
Guest Book
Marsha and Andy Campbell
saysWe have fond memories of David from high school days in India around 50 years ago. Our condolences to his family in Kentucky and in the Washington area. Rest In Peace David. Marsha and Andy Campbell
Estill Curtis Pennington
saysOh Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them who put there trust in you; give grace to David's family; let light perpetual shine upon them; and may the blessings of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be amongst them now and forever more. Love and hugs, Cousin Buck