Business & Entrepreneurship

Reginald Lewis

Born December 7, 1942 · Baltimore, Maryland · Joined the Ancestors January 19, 1993

The first African American to build a billion-dollar company — Reginald Lewis executed the largest leveraged buyout of an international company by a Black businessman and proved that Black excellence has no ceiling in the world of high finance.

Known For

First Black billion-dollar business

Company

TLC Beatrice International

Alma Mater

Virginia State, Harvard Law

Reginald Francis Lewis grew up in a working-class neighborhood in East Baltimore. A star quarterback in high school, he earned a scholarship to Virginia State University and then attended Harvard Law School, where he was one of only a handful of Black students.

After founding the first Black law firm on Wall Street, Lewis turned to leveraged buyouts. In 1987, he acquired the McCall Pattern Company for $22.5 million and sold it two years later for $90 million. Then, in 1987, he executed his masterpiece: the $985 million acquisition of Beatrice International Foods, creating the largest Black-owned business in American history.

TLC Beatrice International generated over $1.8 billion in annual revenue, making Lewis the richest Black man in America. He donated millions to Howard University, Harvard Law School, and other institutions before his death from brain cancer at age 50. His memoir, "Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?", became a blueprint for Black entrepreneurship.