Posted on May 20, 2011
by Harlem World|
By Lil Nickelson
On Friday, May 6, 2011 a group of young and affluent attended a buffet breakfast event at the Red Rooster Harlem.
The event was the kick off fundraiser organized by the host committee for the 4th Annual Reginald F. Lewis Foundation’s Gala Luncheon that will be held on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at the Lewis estate in East Hampton.
The late Reginald F. Lewis was a Wall Street lawyer and financier who was America’s first black billionaire. Just as he was hitting his stride he was diagnosed and succumbed quickly to brain cancer in 1993 at the age of 50. His widow, Loida Nicolas Lewis calls him the “Jackie Robinson of finance,” for no person of color had developed a leveraged buyout as large as Lewis’s TLC Group acquisition of Beatrice International Foods in 1987 for $985 million.
Mrs. Lewis has continued his legacy of “keep going, no matter what,” as well as giving of her time and money to worthwhile philanthropic organizations. A trailblazer in her own right professionally, this Philippine born sister gave $5 million to the Maryland Museum of African American History & Culture located in her late husband’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and the museum now bears his name. Mrs. Lewis also launched the Lewis College in the Philippines.
“The Lewis” as the museum is called, houses a permanent exhibition on the experiences of African Americans in Maryland from their arrival in 1619 to present. The Lewis has helped to develop a statewide curriculum on African American history and culture; the first of its kind in the nation. As we drank breakfast beverages down stairs, Derrick Fleming, Business Development Director for the Marcus Samuelsson Group greeted us with a warm welcome in the absence of Chef Samuelsson & his partner Andrew Chapman. A brief film was showed about the museum that included a segment showing Maryland teachers taking instruction one summer so that African American history would be incorporated into their school system’s curriculum that coming fall.
The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation hosts an annual gala luncheon to raise funds to make sure the Lewis Museum has adequate funding to keep going. This year, Leslie Lewis Sword, the oldest daughter of Reginald and Loida Lewis chairs this year’s gala, and her committee decided to throw some business uptown. An actress, writer and producer in her own right, Leslie is continuing her parents’ example of philanthropic giving. I briefly got a chance to chat with Leslie, and another host committee member, Sweet Joy Hacuela Johansson, President of the Medici Effect.
After we served ourselves, I ate breakfast at a small table for four filled with some very fascinating people that I had not met prior to the event. Lawrence W. King (above), Program Director with Harlem Business Alliance, interior designers Courtney Sloane, and her wife Cheryl R. Riley (below) were my breakfast mates. We were eating great food, and talking about our family backgrounds, buying food locally grown, from free range animals cared for with a conscious, and seafood caught in the wild.
Chef Marcus Samuelsson was able to make it before the event ended, and he went around the room greeting, talking and taking pictures with the breakfast participants. While researching more information for this article I discovered that my breakfast mate Courtney Sloane is the go to designer for Queen Latifah, Vibe Magazine, Diddy, Jay – Z, Damon Dash, and major corporations like Sony Music, Disney and Viacom. In Harlem she designed Carol’s Daughter flag ship store on 125 Street. Cheryl R. Riley’s client roster includes Danny Glover, Terry McMillan, Denzel Washington, Robin Williams and inclusion in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Cooper-Hewitt, Oakland and Mint Museum on the West coast. Since she moved to the East coast she has worked on the furnishings for Judith Jamison’s Alvin Ailey office, and curating art collections of BET’s Washington, DC offices and Harlem’s luxury c*ndominium Kalahari on 116 Street. I was in the presence of design royalty and didn’t know it because they were so down to earth; we even hugged when we were parting.
Each year at the gala luncheon they honor people of color who, like Reginald F. Lewis, distinguished their selves in their respective fields and industries. Past honorees were Sean (Diddy) Combs and entertainment lawyer L. Londell McMillian. This year’s honoree are investment banker Eugene A. Profit, former NFL player who founded Profit Investment Management with $100,000 that now has $2 billion in assets under management. Also to be honored is Harvard Law School Bussey Professor Emeritus Frank E.A. Sander with the Millenium Member Award to recognize the key role in Lewis’s career.
This year’s gala will be on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at the Lewis estate in East Hampton. CBS2 New York News Anchor Maurice DuBois will emcee the benefit for the third consecutive year, and it will feature music of celebrity DJ M.O.S., and a surprise musical guest. Tickets are $550 for the fundraiser that begins at 12:30 pm. For more information about the benefit contact 212 690-1363 212 690-1363 or please visit
www.reginaldflewis.com. Three last observations. First, the opening of the Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem by Chef Marcus Samuelsson has in a good way expanded and diversified the types of people and dining events that are taking place in Harlem. From President Barack Obama’s fundraiser in late March that raised $1.5 million to this breakfast event hosted by the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation. Second, I hope that “The Lewis” can become a world renowned learning institution for the residents of Baltimore in the same way that “The Schromburg” was to me when I discovered it as a 12 year old girl growing up in Harlem. Last, but not least, take the journey to The Lewis so that you, your kids or grandkids can soak up some of our rich American heritage.
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Saturday, May 21st 2011 at 12:20AM
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