Delano Eugene Lewis (born November 12, 1938) is an American attorney, businessman, and diplomat. He was the

United States Ambassador to South Africa Before 1902, the southern part of Africa that is now South Africa was under the hegemony of Great Britain. There also were two self-proclaimed independent states: Transvaal (also known as the South African Republic), and the Orange Free State. T ...

from 1999 to 2001, and previously held leadership roles at the Peace Corps and National Public Radio. He is the father of actor Phill Lewis.

Early life and education

Lewis was born in Arkansas City, Kansas, into a family of "ardent Democrats". He was named for

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

(although his name is pronounced "Del-AYE-no".) He is the only child of Raymond Ernest Lewis, a porter for the Santa Fe Railroad, and Enna L. Lewis (née Wordlow), a homemaker. Lewis attended Sumner High School, in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, Kansas, graduating in 1956. He attended Boys State in his junior and senior years of high school. Lewis graduated from the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1960, where he was a classmate of Wilt Chamberlain. He earned a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

from the

Washburn University School of Law The Washburn University School of Law is a public law school located on the main campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Washburn Law was founded in 1903. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and has been a member o ...

, in Topeka, Kansas, in 1963. He worked full-time at the Menninger Clinic while attending law school.

Career

After graduation, Lewis went to work as an attorney in the U.S. Justice Department and later in the Office of Compliance in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He was an associate director and country director for the Peace Corps in Nigeria and Uganda from 1966 to 1969. Lewis was a legislative assistant to Senator Edward Brooke and Delegate

Walter E. Fauntroy Walter Edward Fauntroy (born February 6, 1933) is an American pastor, civil rights activist, and politician who was a delegate to the United States House of Representatives and a candidate for the 1972 and 1976 Democratic presidential nominations ...

. He led Marion Barry's mayoral transition team in 1978 and his re-election campaign's financial committee in 1982. He joined The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company in 1973 as a public affairs manager, becoming its chief executive officer in 1990. In 1988, Lewis served a one-year term as president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, and began a term as president of the newly formed City National Bank of Washington, which eventually closed in 1993. In 1993, Lewis became the president and chief executive officer of National Public Radio. During his tenure, he served for three years on the board of

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

, citing "pressing time demands" as the reason for leaving in 1997. He resigned from NPR in 1998. Lewis was also a member of the board of directors of

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

, and has served on the boards of

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

, Halliburton and

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

. U.S. President Bill Clinton named Lewis the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, a post in which he served from 1999 to 2001. He was sworn in by federal judge

John Edwards Conway John Edwards Conway (September 1, 1934 – June 1, 2014) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. Education and career Born in Joplin, Missouri, Conway received a Bachelor of Scien ...

, a law-school classmate. Later, Lewis and his wife moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he started a consultancy, Lewis & Associates. In 2006, he was named a senior fellow at New Mexico State University. The following year, he was named founding director of New Mexico State University's International Relations Institute.

Politics

Lewis was involved in the effort to establish home rule for Washington, D.C.; the District of Columbia Home Rule Act was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1973. He was a chair of the home rule committee for VOICE, the Voice of Informed Community Expression, a group formed after the 1968 riots in Washington. He later ran for a seat on the

Council of the District of Columbia The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...

(Washington's city council), losing to Barry. It was his only run for political office, although he was considered a leading candidate for

Mayor of the District of Columbia The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed ...

for years, and was often described as a power broker in Washington, D.C. politics. When he resigned from NPR, he declared that he would not be running for any public office.

Personal life

Lewis is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity and was elected president while at University of Kansas. Among the many civic awards Lewis has earned, '' The Washingtonian'' named him a "Washingtonian of the Year" in 1978; he was awarded Catholic University's President's Medal in 1978, as well. In January 2009, he was celebrated as ''Kansan of the Year''. Lewis and his wife, the former Gayle Carolyn Jones, were married in 1960, and they have four sons: Delano Jr., Geoffrey, Brian, and actor

Phill Phill (usually a diminutive of Phillip) may refer to: *Phill Brown (born 1950), British audio engineer *Phill Calvert (born 1958), Australian rock drummer and producer, played in the influential post-punk band "The Birthday Party" *Phill Davies (bo ...

. A Baptist by birth and upbringing, Lewis converted to Catholicism when he married.

References

External links