Alice Lee, sister of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' author, dies at 103

[November 19, 2014]  BIRMINGHAM Ala. (Reuters) - Alice Lee, a lawyer who for decades represented her sister, "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper lee, has died in Alabama at age 103, a funeral home said on Tuesday.

Lee died on Monday, according to Johnson Funeral Home in Monroeville, Alabama, the rural town that inspired the setting for Harper Lee's 1960 bestseller about racism and injustice.

The author dedicated the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to Alice and their father, a lawyer and model for the book's noble Atticus Finch, "in consideration of Love & Affection."

Lee's older sister, known in Monroeville as "Miss Alice," joined their father's law firm in 1944 and practiced until age 100 in a room above a bank.

Her law partner, Tonja Carter, said the firm was mourning the loss of a mentor and friend.

"Miss Alice was a quiet sort of hero, a true Southern lady," Carter said in an email. "Miss Alice's Christian faith was her foundation and she lived it in example to us all."

After Alice Lee moved into a nursing home, Harper Lee battled a host of legal issues.

In June, the author settled a lawsuit with a museum in their hometown that she had accused of illegally profiting from her book.

(Reporting by Sherrel Wheeler Stewart; Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Bill Trott)

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