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@Psychologist Guy: Hey, would you be able to help with tracking down a death year for Lee? Based on this article it was after 1935. Throughthemind (talk) 21:17, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Seems that he was still alive in 1944, based on this ("Grad of 1877 Interviewed"). Throughthemind (talk) 11:09, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Hilton Hotema in his 1962 book Long Life in Florida (page 147) quotes Elmer Lee as the "late Elmer Lee". I am guessing he died in the 1950s. Problem is, I have checked Civil Deaths & Burials in Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records in the United States. I can't find any records for an Elmer Lee who died in the 1950s that was born in 1856. Elmer Lee was a dietary fanatic and I can see in newspaper various articles quoting him as saying practically all diseases can be cured by uncooked foods.
In 1902, Elmer Lee was living on diet of eggs, honey, whole wheat bread, figs, prunes and walnuts [1]. He converted to veganism some after this. In the 1920s he was promoting a raw food diet [2] of bananas, figs and vegetables with no milk. You might be interested in this interview with Lee [3] which contains two photographs of him in his laboratory making plant milk made from oats and peanuts (you might want to add this photos to the article in a "Gallery" section). The article is from 1921 and says he is aged 66. So this supports his 1856 birth-date. Lee said he added 50 years more to his life by avoiding milk and eating uncooked foods. I would be interested in finding his exact death date because its possible he made it to his late 90s or maybe 100 on a raw vegan diet. Remarkable. Psychologist Guy (talk) 12:53, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
He died in 1945 aged 91. "Dr. Elmer Lee, 91, retired New York surgeon and a former resident of Piqua, bequeathed his entire estate of $240,000 to Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, his almamater. "Dr. Lee, a graduate of the university, died at the Cincinnati Sanitarium, College Hill, June 13. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs Jonathan Legg, pioneer Piquads. The family resided on the site now occupied by the Atlas Underwear company, Jonathan Legg operating a pump repairing shop. Later they changed their name to Leggee and finally to Lee." (Ex-Piquad Gives Entire Estate to Ohio Wesleyan U. Piqua Daily Call (July 26, 1945) p. 14) Psychologist Guy (talk) 13:32, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
An article in the Ohio State University Monthly says "A sum of $ 240 , 000 was given to Wesleyan under the terms of the will of the late Dr . Elmer Lee , retired New York physician." [4]Psychologist Guy (talk) 13:14, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Birth date March 12, 1856 in Piqua, Ohio [5], this would have made him 89, not 91. He died on June 13, 1945 but the newspapers erroneously reported him to be 91. Psychologist Guy (talk) 16:29, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, much appreciated! Nice work on tracking down those dates. Throughthemind (talk) 16:51, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
No problem. I am surprised historians of vegetarianism and veganism have not cited Elmer Lee or W. R. C. Latson in much detail. When I was researching Latson I found he had a very interesting life. Latson was the previous editor of the Health Culture magazine. The magazine was promoting veganism, anti-vaccination, orthopathy, naturopathy, raw food dieting etc. There are some copies online [6]. This was probably one of the first magazines promoting veganism. This was happening far before 1944 and the creation of the Vegan Society. Psychologist Guy (talk) 18:33, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That's interesting, do you think Health Culture is worthy of its own article? Throughthemind (talk) 19:17, 24 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
