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Rufus Ezekiel Lester
Rufus Ezekiel Lester.jpg
Rufus Ezekiel Lester taken by C. M. Bell Studios
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1889 – June 16, 1906
Preceded by Thomas M. Norwood
Succeeded by James W. Overstreet
40th Mayor of Savannah, Georgia
In office
1883–1889
Preceded by John Wheaton
Succeeded by John Schwarz
Personal details
Born (1837-12-12)December 12, 1837
Near Waynesboro, Georgia, U.S.
Died June 16, 1906(1906-06-16) (aged 68)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Cause of death Falling through skylight
Resting place Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Education Mercer University
Occupation Attorney

Rufus Ezekiel Lester (December 12, 1837 – June 16, 1906) was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.

Born near Waynesboro, Georgia, Lester graduated from Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, in 1857. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in Savannah, Georgia, and commenced practice in 1859. He entered the military service of the Confederate States Army in 1861 and served throughout the Civil War. He resumed the practice of law in Savannah. He served as member of the Georgia State Senate in 1870–1879 and served as president of that body during the last three years. He served as mayor of Savannah from 1883–1889.

Lester was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1889 until his death in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1906. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses).

He died after an accident in which he fell through a skylight on the roof of The Cairo, the Washington, D.C. apartment building where he resided. Lester went to the roof to look for his two young grandchildren and apparently missed his footing, fell about 30 feet through the skylight, and landed on the building's eleventh floor. He broke both legs and sustained internal injuries which proved fatal.

Rufus Ezekiel Lester Headstone
Headstone at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah

He was interred at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

Rufus E. Lester (Georgia Congressman)
Frontispiece of 1907's Rufus Ezekiel Lester, Late a Representative.
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