Who Is Reginald Lewis? Why Every American Needs to Know About His Life

Michael Scott

From the ’70s thru the early ’90s, Reginald F. Lewis was arguably the richest African-American on the planet. His crown achievement was the groundbreaking leveraged buyout of the international food conglomerate Beatrice Foods in 1987. As the CEO of this billion-dollar enterprise while in his mid-forties, Lewis without the benefit of inherited wealth or legacy connections, built a fortune — one that placed him on the Forbes 400 list of America’s wealthiest individuals. Despite this, many are unfamiliar with the pioneering work of this businessman.

In the 2018 revised and re-edited edition of the book Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice: The Young Man Before The Billion-Dollar Empire author Lin Hart offers deep insights into the formative years of Reginald F. Lewis and his ascension to becoming one of the most successful executives in the world. Targeting the ten-year period between 1956 and 1966, this book shares stories of their years as high school students in Baltimore, Maryland and later as Virginia State University roommates. Lin Hart offers a rich perspective into the qualities Lewis acquired during this period, many of which were pivotal to his future success. Part memoir, part self-help book, its offers a comprehensive look at Lewis’ exceptional life before passing away in 1993. In an exclusive interview, Hart shares some of his early experiences with Reginald Lewis which prompted him to write the book.

Let’s start with having you provide a brief overview of Reginald Lewis

Here’s a bit about Reginald’s story for those who don’t know him. He graduated from Baltimore’s Dunbar public high school in 1961 and was a good student. He wasn’t top of the class, but good enough to gain acceptance to Virginia State in 1961. In 1965, he graduated and was accepted to the summer program at Harvard. He graduated from Harvard in 1968, and went to work for a law firm before leaving in 1970 to start his own practice. He was the first African American to have a law firm on Wall St.

Can you share a bit about how you and Reginald Lewis became acquainted?

Sure. Reginald F. Lewis (his wife, always stressed that I put the “F” in there, because there are a lot of people named Reginald Lewis) grew up in West Baltimore, where we both lived in the same neighborhood, just three blocks away from each other. So we became close friends and high school buddies. Though we went to different schools, we played sports against each other, and that brought our lives together. We left Baltimore as recruits to go to Virginia State University, which is where the book begins.

So what does your book examine relative to Reginald’s life?

The book is concerned with a lot of what happened during the ten-year period 1956–1966. I cover the progression of Reginald as a neighborhood friend who demonstrated rather extraordinary qualities while being a very ordinary guy.

What was his life as a football player like?

It is a commonly held belief that Reginald was a sports superstar in high school. I constantly have to remind people that while he was a very good athlete, he wasn’t necessarily a superstar. He was a competitor and made the most of what he had, and was an outstanding quarterback with high expectations for the Virginia State team. But football didn’t materialize the way he or I had thought it would.

Why was that?

Reginald ran up against some tough competition at Virginia State and had some major injuries. He was a major train wreck that first year. I thought, somehow, that that would be the end of Reginald Lewis.

But?

But I learned then that there was more to this guy than I had ever thought, because of the way he handled this major setback. The way he handled his recovery was rather impressive.

Sounds like you learned quite a bit from him while in college?

Yes. Our lives tracked each other as roommates, teammates, friends, and fraternity brothers right on through Virginia State. As we came to the end of our years there, Reginald was still willing to share with anyone who wanted to hear about his aspiration of becoming a successful lawyer. When he talked about how he would go to Harvard, a lot of people didn’t take him seriously. I certainly did though, because I knew what the guy was about.

What did others really think of him?

If you were to ask people who knew him back then, you’d get a mixed review. Reginald had this personality that was kind of difficult for some people to handle. He was brutally honest, frank, and kind of had an ego which you can appreciate considering what he achieved.

When did life really start to come together for him?

During his senior year, Reginald began talking about going to Harvard — and other schools: Yale, University of Pennsylvania, and some others. Reginald settled in on Harvard and when the Rockefeller Foundation offered a summer program for young undergraduates from black historical colleges, Reginald got it in his head that he would somehow make himself eligible for this program even though he was just graduating.

How did he go about making this happen?

Because he was not eligible for the program to go to Harvard, he sort of forced himself into the picture by lobbying a lot of the administrators at Virginia State. So, he got on the list and was accepted to go to Harvard that summer and enter the program. That program, however, did not guarantee admission: it was a program for people with promise, and he may have been the only eventual graduate from it.

So it appears that you stayed in close contact with him while he was at Harvard?

Once he got into Harvard I was one of the very few people that stayed close to him. When he did come back to Baltimore once for Christmas recess, he called me up and said I’ll be in town and I want to see you and Frances (my wife). When he met us, I said to my wife “Francis, get the camera, I want you to take a picture of Reg and me.” Because, I told him, “Reginald, I know you are going to be successful and I think you are going to be somebody.” This was in 1966- we took the picture which is now the one you see on the cover of the book.

After Harvard Business School, what was next for Reginald?

Reginald had worked with a number of prominent legal people and got this notion that he wanted to do his own deals. After working for 15 years with his own corporate law practice, he created the venture capital firm TLC Group L.P., a venture capital firm in 1983. His first major victory was a leveraged buyout that allowed him to later acquire the home sewing business McCall’s Patterns for $22.5 million. McCall’s had long had a reputation as a good company but was in a little bit of a financial free fall at the time, so he bought it.

What was that time like for him?

Prior to that he had other deals he couldn’t pull off. Like trying to buy a radio station in St. Thomas in 1982 which got torpedoed. He also tried to buy a company that made outdoor furniture and that didn’t work. But, in 1987 he pulled off the deal everybody knows about; he sold McCall’s for 55 million dollars, which was a 90 to 1 return on his investment.

Then August of 1987, he purchased the snack food, beverage, and grocery store conglomerate Beatrice International Foods from Beatrice Companies. That international leverage buy out — a 985 million dollar deal with 64 companies in 31 countries, made him a major global player. Renamed TLC Beatrice International, it had the distinction of being the largest African-American owned and managed business in the U.S.

And the significance of this at that time?

HUGE! That’s when everyone began to take notice because he now had a business making over a billion dollars in annual revenues. For anybody to pull off that kind of deal back then was really extraordinary.

But being African-American, I’m sure that the journey was filled with some unusual struggles

No doubt. In the book, there is a part towards the end where I am talking about our ongoing friendship, and my hopes of his continued success. What I was really doing was trying to give him some moral support because in 1992 he faced a difficult time with the press and shareholders. So, I sent him a note that said “Reg, I know this is a difficult time, but you will work your way through this as you always do. I know you’ll end up smiling because all press is good press.”

Did you receive a response to your note?

Yes. And when he received the note in December of ’92, I was unaware of the fact that he had been suffering from a serious brain tumor and was only a few months from death. What this signified to me is that as close as we were as friends and associates, his life was still about a very private game. Everything was kept close to the vest, and when he passed away in 1993, it was extremely difficult for those who knew him.

Why the decision to write the book?

Because it’s a story I feel committed to sharing with people. My book is about what people don’t know in terms of what Reginald was like as a person before his extreme success and wealth. As a result, a lot of people who did not know who he was and had not heard of him have connected with me on social media.

So you’ve actually had people reach out to you about the book?

Yes. The book came out in 2012, with the ebook following in 2013. Ever since the release, young people have contacted me and kept in contact over the years. I was on the phone with one young man just last night who works for a financial company up in Boston. It was the first time we had talked.

And there have been others?

Yes. Some are not the type of people you would think would reach out. One of them is a rapper who owns his own entertainment company. He’s a young guy, and a family man. These are the kinds of stories that keep me invested in the book.

Obviously, you learned so much from Reginald. But is there is one theme that has had a lasting impact on you over the years.

When we came out of West Baltimore, I had been in a vocational versus a college prep curriculum. None of my family had ever gone to college, and I had never had the dream of going to college. I went because I was a pretty good athlete and had a scholarship. When I met Reginald something happened, namely, I started to think about what was possible beyond what I had already considered for my future.

Can you expand upon that thought?

While a lot of people say they believe in something, once they start down that road, they discover all sorts of difficult hardships. What I got from Reginald is something I refer to quite a bit when speaking to groups: Reginald had a unique ability and sustainable belief in the eventuality of his success. Reginald never doubted for a minute his success. What I took away from that is I had to do more than just believe in something. I had to be able to get through difficult times and hold onto my belief.

Do you have any stories to share that underscore his strong beliefs and persistence?

We were freshman at Virginia State in a small southern town called Petersburg Virginia, during the days of the civil right movement. People at that time and place did not take kindly to blacks showing up in places they weren’t supposed to. There was a bowling alley in those days owned by white people which was available one day a week for blacks to come in and bowl. So, needing money we went over there to look for a job.

What happened next?

When I got over there I saw a lot of other black kids around looking for work and thought that Reginald and I would be lucky to even get a job cleaning floors. Because I needed the money bad, I had resigned myself to taking whatever they had. I ask him what he wanted to do and he says, “I don’t want to do any of that.” So, I asked him what he wanted to do? And he said “you know what Hart” — which is what he called me during those days — “I think I can run this place.” And I’m thinking “there goes Reginald again, always living 30,000 feet above anybody else with half a brain. He can’t do that.”

Interesting? So how did this story end up?

Well, three weeks later, while I’m hanging out with some friends, he arrives back kind of late at night. So, we asked him “what’s going on, why are you back so late.”He says, “remember that bowling alley, well, I’m now working there.” I asked, “what are you doing over there?” thinking he must be washing dishes or something. And he says, “I’m running it.” And HE WAS running it! He had gotten a job as the night manager. How he pulled that off, I still to this day don’t know. But this said to me that Reginald was not the type of guy that was just blowing smoke, which a lot of people thought he was.

How do you think Reginald would view where we are as a country in 2018?

I think he would be disappointed while still embracing the problems facing our nation as a challenge. In many ways, Reginald was a globalist who believed that there were opportunities all over the place and that if an opportunity became global in scope, it had a better chance of resulting in the big success he was all about.

Do you think he would be public about his views?

Actually, he would be private about what he was doing but active in trying to clear the field for global ventures. He would want the playing field clear of all the impediments we have now to global interaction and a global market. He would be in favor of a worldwide economy, and politically, I think he would be working hard to make that happen.

How has the book you wrote about Reginald been generally received?

The book has been doing reasonably well over time. It came out in 2012 and continued to maintain a pretty good following. It will never run as hard and as fast as Reginald’s book Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun, which I’ve always known. I intended this book to be a snapshot of his life, informed by the personal insight I had into his life that I don’t think very many people ever had due to Reginald’s private nature.

Any final thoughts?

Certainly, he was a guy you could have a lot of different opinions about. But through my book and other projects, I’m committed to continuing Reginald’s legacy as a close friend and groundbreaking businessperson.

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Michael Scott

This is an article written by Michael Scott, an independent journalist who features stories on great books and great minds.