Reginald Francis Lewis was born in (East) Baltimore, Maryland on December 7, 1942. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, black people weren’t allowed to shop at many of the stores and they had designated restaurants and movie theaters they were able to attend. At the age of 6, Reginald decided things would be different for him and stated “why should white guys have all the fun?”
Lewis graduated from Virginia State University with a degree in Economics and later graduated from Harvard Law School with his law degree. Upon graduation, Reginald accepted a position with the prestigious law firm Park, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City. His position in the corporate law department only held his interest for 2 years (1968-1970)…Lewis wanted to be on his own.
Wallace, Murphy, Thorpe & Lewis was the first Black law firm on Wall Street. The firm specialized primarily in the growing market of Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Companies (MESBIC’s). Lewis brought in most of firms business making him the “rainmaker” in the firm and he often used his savings so others would have a paycheck. He did MESBIC transactions for 14 years. Although these transactions were worth million of dollars, Lewis felt they were second class; he wanted to be handle the big transactions alongside the white attorneys.
Again restless, he began to seek his next business venture…corporate acquisitions.
Reginald’s first target was Park Sausage. Unfortunately, the deal was lost to another buyer and he was devastated. Two years later (1977), the Almet acquisition fell through. The seller backed out of the deal on the day of closing. After threatening to sue the owner for breach of contract, Lewis was paid $250,000 to drop the suit (all fees and expenses w ...