Born September 3, 1901, Lester Paul Fey attended the University of Washington (1920-1923) and the University of Pennsylvania (1926-1927) but never received a formal degree from either university. Instead, he gained on-the-job training and practical experience by working for architect Arthur Loveless (1923-26) in Seattle and the Delano & Aldrich firm in New York City (1927). In 1927 he returned to Seattle and joined Arthur Loveless again, rising to the status of associate by 1930, and finally partner by 1935. Daniel Lamont joined the partnership in 1940 and the firm was renamed Loveless, Fey & Lamont.

The partnership with Loveless was dissolved with the onset of WWII and the firm continued without him; renamed Lamont & Fey. Together, Fey and Lamont worked on many remodels and additions for several buildings in the Cascade neighborhood in the 1950s. Other projects included Green Lake Park – Evans Pool (1955) in Seattle; the Matthews Beach Park Bathhouse in Seattle (1957, 1961); the Pacific Coast Paper Mills plant in Bellingham (1955); the Norton Clapp Residence (1957) on Orcas Island; the KOOK-Television Studios & Office Building (1959) in Billings, Montana; the Stimson Marina & Industrial Park (1960) in Seattle; and the Cascade Natural Gas Corporation Office Building (1961) in Seattle.

Seeking additional work, in 1957 Lamont & Fey formed a short-lived alliance with the Naval architect and engineering firm of W.C. Nickum & Sons. The new firm; Nickum, Lamont & Fey, designed the Seattle Art & Photo Supply Co. (1958); the swimming pool at Golden Gardens Park (1961); a co-operative apartment project at Sunset Beach Club (1961-62); and Sherwood Forest Elementary School in Bellevue (1961). For reasons unknown the partnership was dissolved in 1960.

Fey and Lamont eventually parted ways in 1967, and Fey joined The Richardson Associates that year. He retired in 1971 and died in Seattle in March 1980.

– Michael C Houser