Reginald Lewis

Growing up in a middle class Baltimore neighborhood, Lewis 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. After working at several law firms, Lewis opened TLC Group, a venture capital firm. In 1987 Lewis bought Beatrice International Foods for $985 million, and created TLC Beatrice, a snack food, beverage, and grocery store conglomerate that was the largest black-owned and black-managed business in the U.S. At its peak in 1996, TLC Beatrice had sales of $2.2 billion and was number 512 on Fortune magazine's list of 1,000 largest companies. Lewis was also a prominent philanthropist. His 1992 gift to Harvard Law School was the largest single donation the school had received and created the Reginald F. Lewis Fund for International Study and Research. After his death, his half-brother and former football player Jean S. Fugett took over the company.