Carlos Apolinar was born on 23 October 1933 in Popayán, Cauca to Antonio José Lemos Guzmán and María Antonia Simmonds Pardo. He married María Victoria Perez y Soto Bohorquez, with whom he had four children: María Eugenia, Carlos José, María Victoria, and Adriana. He later divorced Perez y Soto, and in 1987 married Marta Piedad Blanco Guauke on October 13, 1987, in the state of Virginia (U.S.), which was registered at the Consulate of Colombia in Washington, D.C., and in turn at the First Notary of Colombia; later in the light of the Civil Marriage Law in Colombia (Decree 2668 of 1988) and after the Holy See granted him the annulment of the Catholic marriage with María Victoria Pérez y Soto, (since August 2, 1993) they remarried civilly, on October 19, 1994, which was registered in Notary 27 of Bogotá, under public deed No. 11910..
Lemos died on 30 July 2003 in Bogotá, D.C. after a fight with lung cancer. In accordance with his last will and testament, he was mourned and buried privately, and did not receive a state funeral as he would have been entitled.