Principal, Harry Gee & Associates, PLLC
EDUCATION
Harry Gee, Jr. graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Economics in 1960. He enrolled at the University of Texas School of Law and attained his Bachelor of Law degree in 29 months when he graduated in January of 1963.
CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS
Mr. Gee is a Senior Fellow of The American Leadership Forum and served as Chair of the organization. He is also a member of the board of the Greater Houston Partnership, the Institute of International Education, the University of Houston Law School Advisory Board, the United Way, the Blood Bank, the Advisory Board of JPMorgan Chase Bank, Houston and the University of Texas Health Science Board.
For four years, he served as President of Sister Cities of Houston, Inc., an organization dedicated to the promotion of cultural, educational and economic interests between Houston and its sixteen sister cities throughout the world. He had previously served as president of the Houston Taipei Society for three years. Also, he chaired the Houston Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Gee has served the community as the President and Chairman of the Friends of the Houston Public Library. During his chairmanship, the format of the annual book sale was established so as to substantially increase the revenues. He has also served as President of the Chinese Professional Club and during his term of office the club raised and made its largest contribution to its scholarship fund. He had also served as President of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance for two years. Among the many other boards he has served on are the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Mickey Leland Kibbutz Program, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, the Child Abuse Prevention Council, the Asian American Coalition and the Institute of Chinese Culture.
In 1999, Mr. Gee was elected as chair of LEAP, a national organization promoting the advancement of Asians into positions of leadership within their companies, educational institutions and communities and instituting research and publication of public policy analysis germane to the Asian community. He is one of a select few Chinese to have been invited to join the prestigious Committee of 100.
Because of his concern about education, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of St. Thomas University, the Annenberg Challenge, the Concerned Houstonians for Effective and Superior Schools Committee, the Citizen’s Initiative for Higher Education, Class Chairman of the Rice University Alumni Fund Drive, President of the Rice University Chinese Alumni Association and as an Executive Advisory Committee Member of the University of Houston Creative Partnerships Campaign and the Chancellor’s National Advisory Committee. He was on the Board of the Association of Rice Alumni and is President Elect of the ARA and will serve as president from July 1, 2006 to June 30 2007.
Mayor Bob Lanier appointed Mr. Gee as a founding member of the Steering Committee of Imagine Houston and appointed him as the first Asian to the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Mayor Lee Brown appointed Mr. Gee to the Board of Houston 2012, a non-profit foundation which promoted Houston as the site of the 2012 Olympics. Mr. Gee served on the Super Bowl Host Committee as Chair of the Community Relations Committee responsible for the establishment of the Youth Education Town (YET Center) resulting in contributions of over $2,000.000 to the Houston community from the NFL and the Houston Host Committee.
PROFESSIONAL
Mr. Gee was licensed to practice on April 30, 1963 and in May of 1963 was appointed as Assistant Attorney General of the State of Texas where he served in the taxation; bonds, insurance and banking; and the highway divisions under Attorney General Waggoner Carr. In 1966, he began the private practice of law in Houston, Texas. When the State Bar of Texas adopted board certification, he was among the first group of attorneys to be qualified as a Board Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law in 1979 and subsequently, he chaired the Examination Committee for Immigration Board Specialization for five years. Mr. Gee has been recognized as an authority in the field of immigration law, not only having lectured at seminars and institutes conducted by Rice University, University of Oklahoma, Texas Tech University, University of Houston and the American and the Texas Immigration Lawyers Association but also having chaired two immigration law conferences at his alma mater, The University of Texas.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Actively involved in various legal organizations, Mr. Gee served as President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, 1990-91, an organization comprised of more than 8,000 attorneys of Asian ancestry throughout the country. During his term, NAPABA established the Thomas Tang Moot Court competition and he has been selected for the Trailblazers Award. He has also served as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Chairman of the Texas Chapter of AILA for two years, Chairman of the Immigration and the Law Day Committees of the Houston Bar Association, and as President of the Asian American Bar Association of Houston. Last year, the Asian Bar honored him with its inaugural Impact Award. In 1993, he was honored by his colleagues in his election to the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas. His family has established a Presidential Scholarship at the University of Texas in the field of Immigration Law. In 2005, the Houston Bar Association Women’s Auxiliary presented Mr. Gee the prestigious Leon Jaworski Award for his significant community service. In Chicago, the American Bar Association presented the Spirit of Excellence Award to him and other recipients before an audience of 700 attorneys and friends.
