MISGUIDED MAGAZINE SPRING 2020

SPRING 2020
ENTREPRENUERS
REGINALD F. LEWIS
Reginald F. Lewis was a lawyer, entrepreneur, and
philanthropist. In 1965, the Rockefeller Foundation
funded a summer school program at Harvard
Law School to introduce a select number of black
students to legal studies. Reginald lobbied for his
acceptance and got in. He made such an impression
that Lewis was invited to attend Harvard Law
School that fall; the only person in the 148-
year history of the school to be admitted before
applying. During his third year at Harvard Law,
Lewis discovered the direction his career would
take as the result of a course on securities law.
His senior year thesis on mergers and acquisitions
received an honors grade. One of his professors,
Frank Sander, said, “ Those of us on the faculty who
saw in him then the promise of greatness had no
idea of the extraordinary achievements be was
to attain.” A desire to “do the deals myself” led
Lewis to establish TLC Group, L.P. in 1983. His first
successful venture was the $22.5- million dollar
leveraged buyout of McCall Pattern Company. Fresh
on the heels of the McCall deal, Lewis purchased
the international division of Beatrice Foods (64
companies in 31 countries) and rebranded the
company as TLC Beatrice International, Inc. At $985
million, the deal was the largest offshore leveraged
buyout by an American company. With revenues of
$1.5 billion the corporation made it to the Fortune
500 and was first on the Black Enterprise List of
the Top 100 African American owned businesses.
even after his death in 1993, Lewis’ philanthropic
endeavors continue. Lewis’ biography “Why Should
White Guys Have All the Fun?” was co-authored by
former USA Today business writer Blair Walker and
made the Best Seller list of Business Week when
published in 1994..
Source: http://www.biography.com/people/reginald-f-lewis
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