Henry Fitzhugh “Buddy” Lee, III, passed away peacefully at his residence in Panama City Beach, FL, on Monday, October 6, 2025, following a courageous 2-year battle with cancer. He was 79 years old.
Funeral services will be held at 3:00pm on Friday, October 10, 2025, at Geneva First United Methodist Church, with Rev. Tyler Blevins officiating. Burial will follow in Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery with Warren Holloway Ward Funeral Home of Geneva, AL directing. The family will receive friends at the church on Friday beginning at 2:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the PGA Tour First Tee Foundation, www.firsttee.org/donate
Buddy was born on August 17, 1946, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to the late Henry Fitzhugh Lee, Jr. and Helen Bursley Lee. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where he learned to play golf and caddied at the Montgomery Country Club and graduated from Lanier High School.
Buddy attended Auburn University, where he was a Sigma Nu and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1968. While at Auburn, Buddy met his late wife, Dixie Dozier Lee, and they were married for 43 years until her death in 2012.
Buddy loved playing golf, watching Auburn football, fishing, hunting, and the outdoors. He loved his family and spending time sharing stories with friends.
Buddy graduated with his Juris Doctorate from Cumberland Law School in 1972 and practiced law in Geneva, AL, for over 40 years. During that time, he served as the representative attorney for the Geneva City School Board, Wiregrass Hospital, and as the City Judge of Geneva,
In 1991, he helped build and operate the first and only 9-hole public golf course in Geneva County, River Oaks Golf Course, which remained open until 2022.
Buddy moved to Panama City Beach in 2015, retired from the law, and played golf 3 times a week until July of this year.
Buddy is survived by his daughter, Allison Lee Redd (Gaines), 5 grandchildren, Jacob Weldon Redd, Ethan Fitzhugh Redd, Calvin Harris Redd, Dixie Elizabeth Redd, and Sarah Annette Redd, all of Peachtree Corners, GA; one sister, Cindy Lee Kessler, of Montgomery, AL, special friend, Kay Carmichael of Panama City Beach, FL,, friend Anthony Barrett Sullivan (Laura Beth) of Birmingham, AL, and many special nieces and nephews.
The family would like to extend our gratitude to Derek and Becky Warren for their friendship and sacrifice, to the employees at Vitas Hospice who served Buddy with such attention and care the past three months, especially nurse Julie Hand, and to caregivers Janelle Parrish and Denaujah Jackson.
Serving as pallbearers will be Jacob Weldon Redd, Ethan Fitzhugh Redd, Anthony Barrett Sullivan, Robert Murray Bishop, Lewis Reuben Gayden III, Christopher Redden Gayden and Derek Allen Warren.
Warren~Holloway~Ward Funeral Home (334) 684-9999, is in charge of arrangements. “Continuing The Trust You’ve Placed In Us” To sign a guest register, please visit: www.whwfuneralhome.com
