Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis (1965 - 2019)
Churchill High School (Eugene, OR)
Class of 1983

Wanted to make certain Kevin Lewis was acknowledged on this memorial wall. For the graduation ceremonies in 1983, we were walking partners, which based on a recent article I came across is still a tradition at Churchill High School. Basically stated, Kevin was a pretty bright guy. At 16 or 17-years old, he was an Assistant Manager or Manager at Wendy's (West 11th Ave). I know this because he got me onboard as a fry cook. It was apparent to me, that Kevin was incredibly mature for his age and was going places. After a while, I got tired of flipping burgers and eventually got a paper route for the Oregonian, which was a job I kept before going off to UC/Davis for college.

Kevin had a small, but rock-solid understated family. I remember meeting his mother, and I think maybe his little brother, the week before graduation. As it was, my father, who was up that weekend for the ceremonies, played a few full sets of tennis with Kevin, after which, Kevin's mother hosted a breakfast in her small kitchen for my mother and father. The pictures as seen below - although grainy and partially obscured, are from the 1983 graduation.

Since he was steeped in AP classes at the University of Oregon as a high-schooler, naturally he tagged me along to chase skirts there on campus. Locales such as the coffee shops or a few student lounges were fair game, since Kevin had a UofO student ID. As 16- to 17-year-old lads, we were apparently pretty confident.

A few years later after college graduation in 1988, and then in the early 90's with me back home in Southern California, we ran into each other at a well-known Tiki Bar in Los Angeles on New Years Eve, with both of us I should add, up to the same antics - chasing skirts. From what I recall, my friends and I from work ended up at an after party with some females we meet there, and Kevin and his stock trader buddies went elsewhere.

Happy to say, in about 2012, Kevin got married like a normal guy. A couple years before that occurred, and ironically, some of the several dozen homes I bought in the 2000's in CA, AZ and NV were likely bought up and/or ended up in a distressed Lehman Brothers mortgage portfolio, for whom Kevin worked. But before that, in 2003 with the run-up of the 2003 Churchill High School class reunion - which I did not make (I went to 3 different high schools), but Kevin did, we talked about real estate and mortgages, and our own and separate - but collective fingers in that same industry.

A few years after the crash, in about 2010-2011, we had a few discussions and a better rear view mirror perspective on the whole fiasco. It was all sausage making, and we were at different ends of it. Simply stated, Kevin Lewis was a "different piece of toast". And I mean that as a compliment, since lots of guys - and gals, in the commercial real estate, mortgage operations and investment banking world are cracked out of a different mold.

I hate to talk about careers, because that comes across as incredibly materialistic, but Kevin did fantastically well. He got all the big titles (VP, SVP, CEO, Managing Director, Chairman, etc.). When I had my own shop in the 2000's in a Downtown Los Angeles high rise (Library Tower), I came across some of his investment banking friends, who worked in the same office building. Nothing but good things to say. Notwithstanding, his LinkedIn profile speaks for itself. And even though you can't stick your LinkedIn profile on your tombstone, Kevin was a guy that didn't have to, since he had a soft spot in his soul for outsiders. In another words, an empathic guy that liked to help people.

I was one of those 'outsiders', having transferred from Inglewood High School in South Central Los Angeles, it was guys like Kevin Lewis --- and along with a handful of others I meet from Student Council, Debate Team, Theater, French Club, Wrestling and Football, the passage was much easier. Comparatively speaking, Churchill High School was a peaceful and civil place.

All the same, I often wrote about guys like Kevin and the CEO driven companies they worked for, versus the guys I worked with, who were part of the ammunition delivery process; feet on the ground, frontline guys, sleeves rolled up - in the real estate commercial brokerage to mortgage portfolio securitization ecosystem. Both sides benefited greatly.

There's a metaphor somewhere in here, but after recently reviewing the 1983 Churchill High School yearbook, wherein Kevin was not mentioned - unless you count the name list of those whom picture was not included in graduating seniors, Kevin sure did a lot.

Look forward in hearing lots of good things from an excellent-to-solid group of remarkable graduates from the Class of 1983, and the upcoming 40th Year Reunion. All and all, we did all right.

D. Sidney Potter

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-lewis-99876551/recent-activity/posts/