Reginald Lewis
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Reginald F. Lewis (December 7, 1942 - January 19, 1993), was an American businessman, who was one of the most successful business leaders during the 1980s. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, 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 graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968.
In 1992, Forbes magazine listed Lewis among the 400 richest Americans with a net worth estimated at $400 million.
He died, aged 50, from brain cancer.
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[edit] Business
Recruited to a top New York law firm immediately after law school, Lewis left to start his own firm two years later. After almost 20 years as a corporate lawyer with his own practice, Lewis moved to the other side of the table by creating TLC Group L.P., a venture capital firm, in 1983. His first major deal was the purchase of the McCall Pattern Company, a home sewing pattern business. He later sold the company at a trememdous profit for investors.
In 1987 Lewis bought Beatrice International Foods from Beatrice Companies for $985 million, renaming it TLC Beatrice International, a snack food, beverage, and grocery store conglomerate that was the largest black-owned and black-managed business in the U.S. The deal was partly financed through Mike Milken of the maverick investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert.
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. He was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
