Reginald F. Lewis was born on December 7, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland, in a neighborhood he later described as “semi-tough.” Strongly influenced by his family, he began his career at the age of ten by delivering the local African-American newspaper. Fortune Magazine reported that “as a child, Lewis kept his earnings in a tin can known as ‘Reggie’s Hidden Treasure.’” The tin can had been given to him by his grandmother, who taught him the importance of saving some of everything he earned. Reginald later sold his newspaper business at a profit.

During his high school years at Dunbar, Reginald excelled in both his studies and sports. As a Senior, he served as Captain of the baseball, basketball, and football teams; he was also elected vice-president of the student body. In addition, Reginald worked nights and weekends at jobs with his grandfather, a head waiter and maitre d’.

In 1961, Reginald entered Virginia State University on a football scholarship, majoring in economics. He graduated on the Dean’s List despite having a rough first year academically as well as losing his scholarship due to an injury. To cope with the loss of his scholarship, he worked in a bowling alley and as a photographer’s assistant to help pay his expenses. In his senior year, Reginald was accepted into a program which selected a handful of exemplary black students to attend Harvard Law School, during the summer, to introduce them to legal studies.

At the end of the program, Reginald was invited to attend Harvard Law School—the only person in the 148-year history of Harvard Law to be admitted before applying to the school. He arrived at Harvard with $50 in his pocket. During his third year at Harvard, he discovered the direction for his future career in a course on securities law and later wrote his third-year paper on corporate takeovers. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968 and went to work for the prestigious New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

Within two years of graduation, Reginald established his own law firm, the first African American law firm on Wall Street. He focused on corporate law and helped many minority-owned businesses secure capital using Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Companies.

A desire to “do the deals myself”, he moved to the other side of the table and established the TLC Group L.P. in 1983. His first major deal involved the $22.5-million leveraged buyout of the McCall Pattern Company. Reginald nursed the struggling company back to health and, despite a declining market, led the company to enjoy the two most profitable years in its 113-year history. In the summer of 1987, he sold it for $90 million, making $50 million in profit.

As a result of his prior successful buyouts of the McCall Pattern Company, in 1987 Lewis bought Beatrice International Foods and made it TLC Beatrice International. 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. The international division of Beatrice Foods, with holdings in 31 countries, was purchased at $985 million, making the deal the largest leveraged buyout at the time of overseas assets by an American company. As Chairman and CEO, he moved quickly to reposition the company, pay down the debt, and vastly increase the company’s worth.

With all of his success, Reginald did not forget others; giving back was part of his life. In 1987 he established The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, which funded grants of approximately $10 million to various non-profit programs and organizations while he was still alive. His first major grant was an unsolicited $1 million to Howard University—a school he never attended—in 1988; the federal government matched the grant, making the gift to Howard University $2 million, which was used to fund an endowment. Interest from this endowment is used for scholarships, fellowships, and faculty sabbaticals. In 1992, Reginald donated $3 million to Harvard Law School—the largest grant in the history of the school at the time. In gratitude, the school renamed its International Law Center the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center. Among other programs, the grant supports a fellowship to teach minority lawyers how to be law professors.

In January 1993, Reginald’s remarkable career was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 50 after a short illness. At his funeral, a letter from his longtime friend, David N. Dinkins, former mayor of New York, was read. In the letter, Dinkins wrote “Reginald Lewis accomplished more in half a century than most of us could ever deem imaginable. And his brilliant career was matched always by a warm and generous heart.” Dinkins added, “It is said that service to others is the rent we pay on earth. Reg Lewis departed us paid in full.”

Even after his death, Reginald's philanthropic endeavors continue through the efforts of the R. F. Lewis Foundation.

Lawyer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Chairman, CEO, husband, father, son, brother, nephew, cousin, & friend—Reginald F. Lewis lived his life according to the words he often quoted to audiences around the world: “Keep going, no matter what.”