Personal Life of The First African American Billion-Dollar Dealmaker

On this week’s episode of Better With Paul, I have one of my favorite conversations of my career with Christina Lewis. It includes a look at the personal life of one of the most important dealmakers in modern history.

Reginald F. Lewis is famed for his fierce intellect, drive, vision and for breaking racial barriers on Wall Street. Yet he was also a visionary and active philanthropist. 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 leveraged buyout of McCall Pattern Company. It was a struggling business in a declining industry. As Chairman and CEO of the new TLC Beatrice International, he moved quickly to reposition the company, pay down the debt, and vastly increase its worth. By 1992, the company had sales of over $1.8 billion annually, making it the first black-owned business to generate a billion dollars in annual sales.

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