Historical Profile: Reginald F. Lewis

The Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center in Cambridge.

Cambridge, MA. - Harvard University’s School of Law is the oldest law school in the United States.  Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School has trained recognizable leaders in fields such as business, law, politics, and social justice. President Barack Obama and several current justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are some of Harvard Law’s most prominent graduates. Another prominent graduate of the law school was Reginald F. Lewis.  The entrepreneur, businessman, and lawyer, lived by these words that he often quoted to audiences that he spoke too: "Keep going, no matter what."

Lewis was born on December 7, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland.  At an early age, Lewis developed a strong work ethic.  When he was ten years old he began delivering a newspaper in his neighborhood.  Lewis attended Virginia State University where he studied economics and political science.  Lewis also played on the football team when he was in college.  After graduating from VSU, Lewis entered Harvard Law School.  He graduated from Harvard in 1968 and eventually went to work for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison – a New York City law firm.

After practicing law for 15 years, Lewis entered the financial sector.  In 1983, Lewis established the TLC Group – a New York investment firm.  In the following year, the TLC Group purchased The McCall Pattern Company – which was one of the oldest home sewing pattern companies in the United States.  In 1987, Lewis orchestrated the acquisition of Beatrice International for $985 million dollars.  This transaction was the largest offshore leveraged buyout in U.S. history.  In 1992, Lewis made a $3 million dollar donation to Harvard Law School.

At the time, the gift was the largest individual donation to the university’s law school.  In recognition of Lewis’ generosity, Harvard Law School renamed its international law center the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center.  The Lewis Center became the first building at Harvard to be named after an African American.  There is a portrait of Lewis that hangs in the lobby of the International Law Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In January 1993, Lewis died at the age of 50 of a cerebral hemorrhage related to brain cancer.  Although Lewis died at a relatively young age, his legacy continues through his generous gifts to academic institutions and civic organizations.  Prior to his death, Lewis’ company TLC Beatrice International was the largest business owned by an African American in the United States.  Before Lewis’ untimely death, The Reginald F. Lewis Fund had donated $12 million dollars to different organizations around the world.

Lewis once said: “Very early in my career I learned that to merely be right analytically is not a guarantee of success and that the human factors are important.  What differentiates a man from a machine is the fact that he is driven by passion, hopes, dreams, and fears.  It’s the merging of all these elements on a particular project that can produce the synthesis that’s necessary for success.”

 

In 2004, a new museum opened in Baltimore, Maryland.  The museum is named the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.   The museum exists to educate people about the contributions that African Americans from the state of Maryland have made to Maryland, the U.S., and the world.