Reginald Lewis (December 7, 1942 - January 19, 1993), an African American born in Baltimore, Maryland, was one of the most successful business leaders during the 1980s. He grew up in a middle class Baltimore 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.
Business
After working at several law firms, Lewis opened TLC Group L.P. , a venture capital firm, in 1983.
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. 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.
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