Nelson M. Magee was born on October 10, 1930, in Wakefield, Virginia. He graduated from Newport News High School in 1948 and from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1952 with a B.S. in architectural engineering. At V.P.I., Magee was a 2nd Lieutenant of Company G (Artillery) and a member of several student organizations, including Pershing Rifles, Order of DeMolay, Peanut Club, American Institute of Architects, and Scabbard and Blade. Magee was stationed at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, before becoming 1st Lieutenant in command of construction of Launching Facilities for the Nike Ballistic Missile Program in Washington, D.C.

Magee enjoyed a prolific international career. He moved to Rome, Georgia, in 1972 to work for Ledbetter Construction Company and became a member of the Georgia National Society of Professional Engineers in 1974. He began work for the Vulcan Material Company of Birmingham, Alabama, in Saudi Arabia in 1976 and rose to the position of President and CEO for Saudi Arabian Vulcan before leaving Saudi Arabia in 1989. From 1990 to 2000, he lived Almeria, Spain, where his company built resorts. Upon his retirement in 2000, he returned to Rome, Georgia, where he remained until his death on March 18, 2017.

Magee married Edna Yolanda Magee, and the couple had three children.

Sources:

Nelson Magee Obituary. Dignity Memorial website. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/hampton-va/nelson-magee-7340574. Accessed September 14, 2022.

The Bugle. Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1952. Page 27.