On Saturday, May 18, 2019, W. Ronald Lewis, of Mandeville, Louisiana, loving husband and father, died at age 80 of heart disease. Ron was born April 30, 1939 in Houston, Texas to beloved parents Albert Eugene Lewis and Jessie Henry Lewis. Ron spent his early years in Kentucky and was a resident of Mandeville for 41 years.
An accomplished athlete, Ron played varsity football in high school in Kentucky and, upon graduation, was highly recruited by colleges and universities. He chose to play SEC football at Georgia Tech under Bobbie Dodd and scored the winning touchdown against rival Tennessee in 1958. Ron pivoted from college sports to the military.
An Army man, he was selected for the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at Presidio of Monterey, CA on the basis of acumen. There, he studied German and rose to the rank of Sergeant in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps. He served in Berlin at the height of the Cold War and was one of few Americans to see the razor wire being unfurled that would ultimately become the Berlin Wall.
Among his many duties in Berlin was to intercept and relay enemy messages to headquarters and provide armed escort for American intelligence dispatches. Following his discharge from the Army, Ron graduated from the University of Kentucky, and it was there he met the love of his life, Marilyn Harmon, a beautiful co-ed from Lexington, with whom he would share the next fifty-plus years of his life loving, being loved and building a family he cherished above all else. Ron had a long and successful business career.
He joined Caterpillar Tractor Company and was picked for an assignment in its worldwide marketing unit in Geneva, Switzerland where he lived with his young family. His next position was in management at Kentucky Fried Chicken Inc. and ultimately was promoted to Executive Vice President of Corporate units at age 36. Taking notice of the rising star at the company with which he one day wanted to compete, Al Copeland, Sr. recruited Ron to join the formative team at Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken.
Ron moved his family to Louisiana to share in the excitement of building Popeyes into a national and international success. Ron retired from corporate life as President of Al Copeland Enterprises in 1989. Ron was a lifetime member of MENSA and a man dedicated to a voracious pursuit of knowledge and understanding human nature.
Despite his many accomplishments, one of the things Ron’s family and friends will always remember was his humility. In most cases, Ron was likely the “smartest guy in the room,” but he’d never show it. He was always eager to hear others’ ideas and thoughts – and, more often than not, share a hearty laugh.
Ron loved a good joke, a better bourbon and had the ability to make whoever was lucky enough to be speaking with him feel like they were the most important person in the world. He is predeceased by his mother and father; his brother, Gene Shelby Lewis and his sister Leslie Lewis Camboni. Ron leaves to mourn him his wife of 54 years, Marilyn Harmon Lewis; his sons, Ronald Gregory Lewis (Kaye) and Jeffrey Harmon Lewis (Robina); his two grandsons, William Henry Harmon Lewis and Jonathan Robert Ronald Lewis, and his step-grandchildren Alexander William Heider, Stephanie Heider Davis (Norman), and Kathy Lynn Heider.
Ron also leaves his brother Roger Neil Lewis (Gay); his brother David Michael Lewis (Jane); his brother James Gregory Lewis (Sherry), and his brother Joe Henry Lewis (Rose Mary) and nephews and nieces. Ron will be missed by anyone fortunate enough to have known him. A memorial service will be scheduled.
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