Krieg Lee

(Richard) Krieg Lee, 64, left this life on Jan. 9, 2026, the same way he lived it: bravely, determined, resolute and with humor.

Krieg was born on Jan. 18, 1961, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Bobbie and Bernie Lee. He grew up in the small town of Baker, Louisiana, where he was a typical boy, exploring swamps, fishing, breaking bones, playing baseball and riding his bike in a pack with the neighborhood boys. He graduated from Baker High School in 1979, where he had been senior class president, and attended Louisiana State University, graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1983. During his senior year at LSU, the U.S. Navy recruited Krieg to join its nuclear program and he was commissioned as an officer in January 1984. He attended nuclear submarine training in Rhode Island, Florida, Connecticut and Idaho. He was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, and assigned to the fast-attack submarine U.S.S. Atlanta, which ran aground in the Strait of Gibraltar on his first deployment (he wasn't driving). Despite that, he enjoyed the four years he spent in the Navy, traveling to ports in Western Europe, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and under the Arctic Circle.

He left the Navy in 1988 and married Marie Russell in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and began a career in the paperboard manufacturing industry. He started out as a project engineer with Somerville Packaging in Williamsburg, Virginia, and ascended the career ladder through various buyouts and mergers, working for companies including Somerville Packaging, James River, Altivity, Atlas Die and Chem Milling, and Graphic Packaging and lived in Virginia, New York and Colorado, choosing to settle down permanently in Kalamazoo.

Krieg became a dad at 42. His job required frequent travel and, wanting to spend more time with his wife and son Michael, Krieg left the industry in 2011 as Vice President of Manufacturing of the Multiwall Bag Division with Graphic Packaging. He fulfilled a dream of owning his own business when he and Marie bought Encore Publications in 2011 and Forrest Company, a machine and automation manufacturing company, in 2013. Krieg retired from Forrest Company in August 2025; Encore Publications continues to operate.

Krieg spent countless hours with Michael, building Legos, playing video games, designing and crafting rocket launchers and constantly repairing the go-kart they drove around the backyard like lunatics. Krieg was an avid bass fisherman and loved boating, especially taking his son, nephews and friends tubing and waterskiing. He was never happier than when fishing with his brother-in-law Mike Whitenack and his nephews or cruising around the lake, an Oberon in hand. After living in Kalamazoo since 1997, he and Marie moved to Pine Lake, near Plainwell, in 2023.

In 2018, Krieg became the founding mentor to MagicTech 7658, the First Robotics team at Loy Norrix High School. He found working with the teenagers very fulfilling and swore that it "kept him young." He mentored MagicTech 7658 until 2025. A strong advocate for technical trades education, Krieg was a board member of the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation and employed apprentices from KVCC's Machine Tool Technology program at Forrest Company.

Krieg leaves those who knew him with memories of his infectious laughter, irrepressible sense of humor and larger-than-life personality as well as his humility, integrity and kindness. He made us all laugh with his many "Krieg-isms," sayings that brought out his Southern roots but that no one in the North really understood. He is survived by his wife and son; two brothers, James Byron Lee (Candi) of Central, La. and Robert Lee (Kerrie Beth) of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.; in-laws, Barbara Russell and Mitch Kilborn (Kodiak, Alaska), Faye and Mike Whitenack (Salem, Ore.), Daniel and Cecilia Russell (Pelham, Ala.) and Glenn Russell and Donna Lybecker (Pocatello, Id.) and aunts, nieces, nephews and great-nieces and nephews.

In accordance with his wishes, cremation has taken place. A celebration of Krieg's life will be held from 1-4 p.m. May 30 at Crawlspace Theatre, 315 W. Michigan Ave. in downtown Kalamazoo, with speakers and a time for sharing at 2:30 p.m. Memorial contributions to support scholarships for technical trades students may be made in Krieg's name through the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation, 6767 W. O Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49009 or online at kvcc.edu/foundation/.