Keep Going No Matter What: The Reginald F. Lewis Legacy: 20 Years Later - Softcover

Pierce, Ponchitta

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0988631814 ISBN 13: 9780988631816

Publisher: Bookmark Publishing, 2012

Synopsis

Featuring interviews from some of the most prominent names in today's business world, this full-color book shares the influence that Reginald Lewis continues to have on many successful and up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

"This book is dedicated to the legacy of my beloved husband, Reginald F. Lewis, on the 20th Anniversary of his transition to eternal life. He left us too soon."

—Loida Nicolas Lewis

November 30, 2012 marked the 25th Anniversary of the purchase of Beatrice International Foods by Reginald F. Lewis. The acquisition by Lewis, at a cost of $985 million dollars, cast the normally publicity shy Lewis into the international spotlight and made the world his arena. Not bad for a guy who grew up in what he once described as a “semi-tough” neighborhood in Baltimore, MD.

In Keep Going No Matter What—The Reginald F. Lewis Legacy: 20 Years Later, numerous individuals—some who knew Reginald F. Lewis and others who were inspired by his book “Why should white guys have all the fun?” How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire—share their compelling stories about how his life impacted theirs.

"He was intense. He was focused. His entrepreneurial spirit was inspiring. It was clear that we were hearing from a man who was going to make a difference in the world around him."

—Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO, American Express

LOIDA LEWIS

In 1987, Reginald F. Lewis, won the operations of Beatrice International Foods in a $985 million leveraged buyout. It was the largest of its kind at that time. In 1992, he was listed in Forbes Magazine as among the 400 wealthiest Americans. He died of brain cancer, at the age of fifty, in 1993.

After his death, Loida served as Chair and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc. She won over the business community by moving quickly to increase earnings and pay down debt. In 1995, she was on the cover of Working Woman magazine as the “Top Businesswoman in America.” After running the company, she completed the sale of TLC Beatrice, achieving a 35% internal rate of return on investment.

Loida is now Chair and CEO of TLC Beatrice, LLC, a family investment firm. A lawyer by profession, she was the first Filipino woman to pass the New York Bar without attending law school in the United States.

Loida Nicolas Lewis served for ten years as General Attorney with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and co-authored the best-seller, How to Get a Green Card, now in its 10th edition.

A leader in the Filipino-American community, she is one of the founders of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund, the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance, organized after the election of Benigno Simeon Aquino III as President of the Philippines.

A well-regarded philanthropist, in 1998 Loida funded the People’s Alternative Livelihood Foundation of Sorsogon Inc. in her hometown. The foundation has since helped lift 20,000 families out of poverty. She succeeded her husband as Chair of the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, which has given millions of dollars to educational and cultural institutions. Loida was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent news organization with a global reach, and the Apollo Theater Foundation. She speaks Filipino, English, French, and Spanish.

Loida has two daughters, both cum laude B.A. graduates of Harvard University. Leslie is an actor and playwright, having written “Miracle in Rwanda.” Christina, after a five-year stint with the Wall Street Journal, is a journalist and author of the best-selling Lonely at the Top. Loida has three grandchildren, Christian, Savilla, and Calvin, and two sons-in-law, Gavin Sword and Dan Halpern.

About this title

About the Author

PONCHITTA PIERCE, the book's interviewer, is a communications expert with extensive experience in interviewing, writing, editing, research, and compiling oral histories. Ponchitta has been a television host and producer, a journalist, and a speechwriter. She began her career in journalism at Ebony magazine, where she rose to become the New York Editor and New York Bureau Chief of the magazine’s parent company, Johnson Publications. Ponchitta has worked at CBS News as a special correspondent, and at WNBC-TV in New York, where she hosted and co-produced a daily television show, Today in New York. She has also hosted programs for New York’s PBS affiliate station, WNET. In addition to her work in television, Ponchitta has served as a Contributing Editor for Parade and McCall’s magazines, a Roving Editor for Reader’s Digest, and has written for many national publications, including AARP The Magazine (Modern Maturity), Family Circle, More, Newsday, and Ladies Home Journal. Several of her interviews appear in My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience (AARP/Sterling Publishing), a book that presents eyewitness accounts from people who had played pivotal roles in the Civil Rights Movement. Ponchitta’s work also appears in the book The Leader of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies and Practices for the New Era. Long active in community service, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Policy Association; WNET; the Inner-City Scholarship Fund of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York; Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (H.E.L.P.); and the Cuban Artists Fund. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Economic Club of New York, and the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Council. A graduate of the University of Southern California with a B.A. in journalism (cum laude), Ponchitta has also studied at Cambridge University in England. You can view Ponchitta's website at www.PonchittaPierce.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bookmark Publishing
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0988631814
• ISBN 13: 9780988631816
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 112