Reginald F. Lewis was the first African American to build a billion-dollar company, Beatrice Foods.

After growing up in a middle-class neighborhood in East Baltimore, Maryland, that he once described as “semi-tough,” Lewis won a football scholarship to Virginia State College, graduating with a degree in economics in 1965. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968 and was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

In 1992, Forbes listed Lewis among the 400 richest Americans, with a net worth estimated at $400 million. Before his death in 1993, Reginald F. Lewis created a global business empire worth over a billion dollars. He was 50 years old.

Lawyer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, CEO, devoted family man, loyal friend — Reginald F. Lewis lived his life according to the words he often quoted to audiences around the country: “Keep going, no matter what.”