Award-winning SNL set designer Eugene Lee dies at 83

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Eugene Lee, an award-winning set designer who resided in Providence, died at the age of 83 on Tuesday.

As the resident artist at Trinity Repertory Company since 1967, Lee designed more than 100 productions there, according to the theater.

Most notably, Lee was also a production designer on Saturday Night Live from the show’s conception.

“Eugene Lee was a once-in-a-generation theater artist, one of the greatest minds to ever answer the question ‘What is theater?’” Trinity Rep Artistic Director Curt Columbus said. “He was simultaneously playful and profound, childlike and rigorous, a genius who sees the world in ways that others only dream.”

Lee went on to win three Tony Awards and six Emmys, according to Trinity Rep. He also led the production design for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

“Eugene was a brilliant, wonderful person and the world is a bit darker without his light in it,” Congressman David Cicilline said in a social media post.