Реджинальд Ф. Льюис: Америкалық кәсіпкердің өмірі мен қызметі

American businessman (1942–1993)

Reginald F. Lewis (December 7, 1942 – January 19, 1993), was an American businessman. He was one of the richest Black American men in the 1980s, and the first African American to build a billion dollar company: TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. In 1993, Forbes listed Lewis among the 400 richest Americans, with a net worth estimated at $400 million.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland to Carolyn and Clinton Lewis, Reginald Lewis grew up in a middle class neighborhood. He won a football scholarship to Virginia State University (VSU) and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi while an undergraduate student. After graduating from VSU with a degree in political science in 1965, he took part in a summer program at Harvard set up by the Rockefeller Foundation that introduced African Americans to the study of law. While there, he made such an impression that Harvard invited him to attend school that fall. At the time, this made him the only person in the 148 year history of Harvard Law School to be accepted before even applying. He completed his Juris Doctor at Harvard Law in 1968. a snack food, beverage, and grocery store conglomerate that was the largest African American owned and managed business in the U. S. The deal partly was financed through Mike Milken of the maverick investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert. In order to reduce the amount needed to finance the leveraged buyout, Lewis planned to sell some of the division's assets simultaneous with the takeover. When TLC Beatrice reported revenue of $1.8 billion in 1987, it became the first black owned company to have more than $1 billion in annual sales. At its peak in 1996, TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. had sales of $2.2 billion and was number 512 on Fortune magazine's list of 1,000 largest companies.

In 1987, Lewis established the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, which funded grants of approximately $10 million to various non profit programs and organizations while he was alive. His first major grant was an unsolicited $1 million to Howard University in 1988; the federal government matched the grant, making the gift $2 million, which was used to fund an endowment for scholarships, fellowships, and faculty sabbaticals. In 1992, Lewis donated $3 million to Harvard Law School, the largest grant at the time in the school's history. The school renamed its International Law Center the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center, the first major facility at Harvard named in honor of an African American. While alive, Lewis made known his desire to support a museum of African American culture. In 2005, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture opened in Baltimore with the support of a $5 million grant from his foundation. It is the East Coast's largest African American museum occupying an 82,000 square foot facility with permanent and special exhibition space, interactive learning environments, auditorium, resource center, oral history recording studio, museum shop, café, classrooms, meeting rooms, outside terrace, and reception areas. It highlights the history and accomplishments of African Americans with a special focus on Maryland's African American community. The museum is also a Smithsonian affiliate. Lewis was counsel to the New York based Commission for Racial Injustice.

On January 19, 1993, Lewis died at age 50 from brain cancer. His wife Loida Nicolas Lewis took over the company a year after his death and sold it in 1999.

Lewis was married to Loida Nicolas Lewis, a Filipina lawyer. They had two daughters, Leslie and Christina. Lewis was Catholic.