Robert E. “Bob” Lee, a retired Energy Department personnel management specialist, died May 5 at his home in Silver Spring. He was 90.

He had complications from colon cancer, said his son Charles Lee.

Mr. Lee, a native Washingtonian, began his career in the federal government as a civilian employee of the Navy Department in the late 1940s. A career-long specialist in personnel management, he worked for the Food and Drug Administration, NASA and the Customs Service before joining the Energy Department. He retired in 1979 as a personnel management supervisor.

Robert Edward Lee was born in the District and was a 1939 graduate of Eastern High School. He attended the old Benjamin Franklin University and, in retirement, received a bachelor’s degree in general studies from the University of Maryland in 1991. He served in the Army during World War II.

As a teenager, Mr. Lee formed his own dance band, The Aristocrats. He played the drums and piano for more than 70 years, performing at weddings, parties and high school proms.