On December 7,

Reginald F. Lewis was born in Baltimore, Maryland, 1942. He was the richest African American man in the 1980's. He grew up in a middle class neighborhood. He won a football scholarship to Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), graduating with a degree in economics in 1965. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1968. He was a partner in Murphy, Thorpe & Lewis, the first Black law firm on Wall Street. In 1989 he became president and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holding Inc. He also was the first African American to build a billion dollar company.With TLC's leverage acquisition of Beatrice International Food Company, Lewis became the head of the largest Black-owned business in the United States. TLC Beatrice had revenues of $1.54 billion in 1992.

 He was also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.


In 1992, Forbes magazine listed Lewis among the 400 richest Americans with a net worth estimated at $400 million. He died at age 50, from brain cancer.

In his spare time, he mentored African-American students and entrepreneurs. Lewis donated $1 million dollars to Howard University and $3 million to Harvard Law School where a building is named in his honor. He holds the distinction of the being the only African-American with a building named in his honor on a Ivy League campus.

In the early 90's, Lewis tried unsuccessfully to buy the Baltimore Orioles. After his death, his brother and his widow Loida ran TLC Beatrice, they would eventually sale the company for billions. At the time of his death, Reginald Lewis was worth $500 million dollars.




courtesy, blackfacts.com, wikipedia and panachereport.com