As a top executive and owner, Herbert C. Lee guided shoe companies in New England and across the country, and he oversaw factories around the world. Finding time in his busy life to rise through the ranks of industry could at times be challenging, however.

He spent high school summers during the Great Depression hopping trains to see the country. As a US Navy intelligence officer during World War II, he wrote well-regarded technical manuals. An able amateur musician, he could pick out tunes on guitar, saxophone, and piano. In the later decades of his life, he organized trips to Canada for titans of industry, who fly-fished for salmon by day and played gin rummy by night.

“I know this is going to be a very strange thing to say about someone who was 97 years old, but he had so much to offer that his passing has to be viewed as dying prematurely,’’ said Al Flamm, a friend and former president of Union Carbide. “It’s a tremendous loss.’’

Mr. Lee died April 4 in Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., about a month after his health failed. He was 97 and had lived in Belmont for many years before dividing his time between Boston and Palm Beach.

Mr. Lee and his late wife, Micki, “were devoted friends and generous supporters of the Harvard Art Museums during their lives,’’ said director Thomas W. Lentz. “Together, they built a remarkable art collection, which they shared with many organizations and institutions. The entire arts community here in Boston mourns his passing; it is a real loss.’’

Philanthropists and arts patrons, the Lees also were mainstays of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University.

In addition, Mr. Lee raised money for and served on boards of Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, among others.