Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire

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Overview

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun? is the inspiring story of Reginald Lewis: lawyer, Wall Street wizard, philanthropist — and the wealthiest black man in American history.

When six-year-old Reginald Lewis overheard his grandparents discussing employment discrimination against African Americans, he asked, “Why should white guys have all the fun?" This self-assured child would grow up to become the CEO of Beatrice International and one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever. At the time of his death in 1993, his personal fortune was estimated in excess of $400 million and his vast commercial empire spanned four continents. Despite the notoriety surrounding Lewis's financial coups, little has been written about the life of this remarkable man. Based on Lewis's unfinished autobiography, as well as scores of interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, the book cuts through the myth and media hype to reveal the man behind the legend. What emerges is a vivid portrait of a proud, fiercely determined individual with a razor-sharp tongue — and an intellect to match — who would settle for nothing less than excellence from himself and others.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781574780369
Publisher: Black Classic Press
Publication date: 10/13/2005
Pages: 318
Sales rank: 79,960
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Reginald F. Lewis was chairman, chief executive officer, and principle shareholder of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc., until his death from brain cancer in January 1993. Born into a Black working-class family in Baltimore, he had pushed himself onto Forbes magazine’s 400 list of wealthiest Americans at the time of his untimely death at age 50.

Blair Walker is a former financial reporter with USA Today. He has been writing professionally since 1980. He has been an editor with New York Newsday and the Washington Post, and has been a reporter with the Baltimore Sun and the Chicago bureau of The Associated Press. Blair has also freelanced for Emerge, AutoWeek, Fortune, Africans Americans on Wheels and BET Weekend magazines.

Richard Parsons is a business executive who served as Chairman of Citigroup from 2009 - 2012 and Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner from 2002-2007. Hailing from a working-class background, Parsons regularly makes Fortune magazine's annual list of the most powerful people in business, and is considered to be one of the most respected African American executives in the country.

Table of Contents

Partial table of contents:
A Kid from East Baltimore.
Lewis's ``Demon Work Ethic'': The High School Years.
``I'm Going to Be a Millionaire'': Lewis at Virginia State.
No Application Needed: Breaking Down the Doors of Harvard Law.
Building His Own Law Practice: The Years of Struggle.
``Masterful'' Man: Winning Loida Nicolas.
``I Was Not Ready.'' Piloting McCall for a 90-to-1 Gain.
The Biggest Deal of All: The Billion-Dollar LBO of Beatrice.
Taming a Business Behemoth.
A Door to a New Universe.
Connoisseur, Philanthropist, Citizen of the World.
Epilogue.
Sources Interviewed.
Index.
About the Authors.
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