Charles Lee Reese Sr. (1862-1940) was a chemist and scientist at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1902 to 1931. Reese graduated from the University of Virginia in 1884. He pursued his graduate work in Germany at the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg, taking his doctoral degree from the latter institution in 1886. Until 1900 he taught chemistry in several American schools, and then began his career in industrial research with the New Jersey Zinc Company.

In 1902, he began his long association with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company as chief chemist of the Eastern Dynamite Company at Repauno, New Jersey. Soon thereafter, he established the Eastern Laboratory, one of the pioneer facilities of its kind in America.

In 1906, Reese assumed charge of the Chemical Division of the High Explosives Operating Department. In 1911, all chemical operations were consolidated into a single Chemical Department with Reese as director. Under his direction DuPont's research and development program grew rapidly, employing 1,200 chemists in Reese's lab by 1917. The research program had expanded from its original focus on explosives into paints, dyes, artificial leathers, and plastics.