7
trees
planted in memory of Theodore Vernon Gee Jr.
Obituary for Theodore Vernon Gee Jr.
Theodore Vernon Gee Jr was born on October 20, 1963, in Philadelphia Pa, to the late Theodore V. Gee Sr, and Mary Coley. He had one biological sister Barbara Gee- Roberts who passed away in 2015. Mary passed away when Teddy was 5 years old, and Teddy Sr transitioned on May 11, 2013. At 9 years old Theodore Gee Sr, married Gladys who became a stepmother to Teddy. She had 5 children that Teddy knew as his own brothers and sisters. Sibyl, the late Michael, Steven (Weany), Linnie and Chris Jordan all who predeceased him. Though he was acknowledged by a stepmother, his aunt Lucille was always there for him for all aspects of life as a mother. Darlene Cortez, a lifelong sister,and Ken Foggs his brother were also siblings to him.
Teddy loved to smile and often lived life with little to no boundaries, realizing a great bit of success in his life, but also not immune to trouble. He loved all types of people, especially women. He never intended to hurt anyone, however, knew that there may have been many that did not always agree with his view on life. Teddy was a believer in God, had faith and had a great spiritual foundation, doing some study for a brief time in theology but did not attend church regularly or believe in organized religions. He believed that God loved all people regardless of religion or region of the world. He believed that organized religions were good as a framework for a value system however segmented people’s beliefs around the world of who was better, worse or right or wrong about their beliefs.
He had a couple of interesting philosophies on life, one being that life is a series of choices and expectations. With that he meant and would often quote that” if you have high expectations that your choices must be conducive to those expectations, and if you had low expectations so will your choices be”. He also believed that life in addition to one’s spirituality is made up of three components, and that is genetics, experiences and environments. Blessed with good genetics, more importantly the vast experiences and multiple environments that graced his life helped form who he became.
Ted received his Bachelor of Administration degree at Cheyney University, and completed a master’s level program, finance for executives at the University of Chicago Graduate School of business, as well as the Society of Organizational Learning from the Sloan School at MIT and was a lifelong learner of the Art of Leadership. He graduated High School from Downingtown Industrial and Agricultural School where he was the valedictorian of the class but also attended John F Kennedy High School in Willingboro NJ. His early education was completed between Willingboro New Jersey and Philadelphia Pa. He was a lover of sports, football, basketball, track, body building, and martial arts. He loved motorcycling, reading and philosophizing about the world. Ted joined the Prince Hall Masonic order in Columbus Georgia Lewis Hayden #6 during his time as an officer in the US Army but did not remain active in the organization throughout his life.
Professionally Ted always enjoyed a challenge and would often excel at most of his endeavors and when he would, would often talk trash. He was a global leader within multiple environments that operated at the direct, operational and strategic levels of leadership. He had served as an officer in the United States Army and has held leadership roles from direct level as a front-line supervisor to strategic level roles such as President within a multi-billion-dollar industry pacesetter and as a Chief Operating Officer at MD Helicopters. Ted often broke barriers as a black man such as first black executive at Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company, and first black division President of Pulte Homes. He also received his accident and financial licenses from Washington mutual to be able to sell various insurance and financial planning services to clients, though chose not to pursue a career in sales and chose Corning Inc.
He had been highly successful leading in change environments, start ups, and growth businesses where businesses were often in a change or transformational situations. He has led within multiple companies that produced different products within different industries, including Corning Inc, FMC, Harley Davidson, Ingersoll Rand and MD Helicopters, utilizing strong leadership and effective process management, while always engaging the workforce.
Ted trained in Japan and was an expert in the Toyota Production System or lean methodology. A strong competitor, he was also a former collegiate athlete. He played football at Cheyney and had the opportunity to coach women’s volleyball at Cheyney and high school basketball at Downingtown where he served as JV coach. He was made coach of the year during his first year of coaching basketball and was afforded the opportunity to coach the JV all stars in the league.
Ted ventured into some interesting experiences throughout his life having tried out for the American Gladiators, ran diamonds and gold from central Africa that led to a brokered coffee deal that failed between Africa and Russia that was to deliver 30 tons of coffee for each one of 4 roasting plants to be built in Russia before the government and parliament split and voided all American contracts. He also developed a membership business for military personnel and their families to purchase items direct from manufacturers for big ticket items that they frequently purchased in 1989 before many of the currents ones today were even thought of. This was broken up by the military as a conflict of interest. A true visionary and big thinker well before his time.
He has done public speaking around the world, was a member of a variety of nonprofit boards, and has mentored countless leaders at all levels of the leadership continuum. He was also credited with developing many master black belts, black belts and other continuous improvement experts and mentees around the world. He was a proud volunteer for SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and most recently as a board member for the Association of Kidney Patients, board of governors for the Urban League, First Tee of NC and SIMs nonprofit music organization in Austin TX and a few others. He was the Founder and President of Live Music Tutor (LPS Enterprises Inc including Live Music Tutor Inc, Wellness At Home Inc, FoodNThings Inc and the yet to be released C2 virtual health a virtual healthcare platform that has not been released to the public yet) and Success Based Intervention (SBI), a leadership development program geared to help organizations and individuals from university through retirement. He was also author of “Hope Is Not A Strategy, simple solutions for doing business in the 21st , which is available on his website www.sbiconsulting.com, Amazon books, Barnes and Nobles bookstores and all other fine book stores in your area and had 2 other books currently scheduled to be released, the first called Bet on You the Trials and Tribulations of the First Billion, and also a book on developing a concurrent methodology within the software industry to put structure and the ability to be more predictable with cost, quality and timing, very similar to traditional manufacturing products.
He recently developed a seminar about life called “your life strategy in 8 hours” which focuses on looking at your life from the end state vs in time periods or 5/10-year chunks. The foundation for this program is the creation of an obituary which highlights the dash but most importantly 4 key questions of the end of your life. 1. How do you want to be remembered? 2. What will you want to have accomplished during your lifetime? 3. What will you want to have seen during your life? 4. What will your legacy be? It is geared to focus one’s life from the end and backwards plan to your current state. Without knowing when the right pillar will show up it forces you to act on your dreams immediately. This helps to define commitment to our careers, relationships and whatever else maybe important to you.
Teddy wanted to be remembered as a good citizen of the world and as one who has helped masses of people to achieve their dreams. He has done this many times throughout his career and the companies that he owns today. He has many accomplishments, primarily in career however he did not feel he did the best he could with his 3 sons. He was very good at a successful career and the material trappings in life, such as the big houses, having seen 6 of 7 continents of the world, nice cars, etc and he was saddened by the fact that despite all these things he could not solve the ills of the world.
He leaves to mourn a special friend Brenda Jones, sons Jamal, Garrett, Julian, Jeff George Jr. who was closest to him and a very special Aunt Lucille Potts who also served as a mother to him. He leaves sister the Reverend Dr Darlene Cortez (Elmer) and brother Ken Foggs (Janet), who donated a kidney to him and gave him over 20 additional good years of life and memories. He also leaves a granddaughter, host of cousins, nieces, nephews, family, friends, and colleagues all over the world. Teddy leaves special friends John Adams, Todd Lee (Chris), Erin Sample, Tim Zetwick (Marylynn), Carl Sharperson Jr (Jackie), Barry Armstrong (Jocelyn), Harold Scott (Cynthia), Shawn Taylor (Natalie), Montez Johnson (Cassie), Chance McCall (Kammie), Cynthia Smith, Bob Smith, Jim Mayberry, Steve Long (Michelle), Thomas Linton (Darlynne), Larry and Laraine Washington, Kyle Sales, Otis Sistrunk David Smith and a special sister in law Marie Jordan and Sylvania Ferguson.
Ted was a foodie and enjoyed many different foods, he loved to laugh, loved the 3 stooges and the philosophies of the Looney Tune cartoons and an occasional Louis XIII glass or two.
Please do not be saddened by the change in status of his life, yet please understand the completeness and legacy of the dash. He lived a great life and now living the remainder of his life sitting with God the father, and in his own words, “he is now taking the long dirt nap”.
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Previous Events
Memorial Service
Thursday
2
May
11:30 AM
- 12:30 PM
Banfield Funeral Home & Crematory
420 W. State Road 434
Winter Springs, FL 32708
The memorial service will be live streamed by Banfield Funeral Home. The link will be on their website day of funeral. http://m.banfieldfuneralhome.com
Interment
Thursday
2
May
2:30 PM
Cape Canaveral National Cemetery
5525 US Highway 1
Mims, FL 32754
Burial - 2:30 pm (Have to be there by 2:15 at latest to enter) 50-minute ride from funeral home. If you have any questions, please call me at (610) 804-5496. Praying for you during your time of bereavement. Rev. Dr. Darlene Cortez
Cemetery Details
Location
Cape Canaveral National Cemetery
5525 US Highway 1
Mims, FL 32754
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