When Charles "Tony" Gee’s appointment to the Living Legends of Alexandria board of directors was announced, LLA President Pam St. Clair told the board, “When Tony was called to say he had been selected as a 2014 Living Legend he said ‘Thank you’ in his first breath and ‘How can I help?’ in the second.”
Gee was a pioneering African American business leader during a period of profound social change in Alexandria and played a critical role in the development of lower King Street. At the same time that he was building his own business, the Snack Bar Restaurant, Gee was encouraging other local businesses to get started and to grow. While at his King Street location, he helped organize 84 Alexandria business owners and became the founding president of the Old Town Business Association. Throughout his years as an Alexandria businessman, Gee found time to pursue the study of religion. He became a Baptist minister and served three congregations for more than 30 years, including four years as pastor of the Third Baptist Church in Alexandria.