Lewis Lee Thompson

LEWIS LEE THOMPSON

Lewis Lee Thompson passed in peace on April 2, 2004 in Spring Hill, FL, with his family at his bedside. Lewis was born in Gastonia, NC on April 8, 1932, the second of the six Thompson children. The family moved north to Washington, DC in 1941, where they would become one of the first families of color to purchase a home on upper 16th St., NW.

Lewis Thompson attended Randall Junior High and Cardoza Senior High schools, completing them both with high honors. His high school studies were completed in a progressive two and one-half year

span. He would then matriculate to college, pledging and crossing the Kappa Alpha Psi sands in 1952. He graduated in 1954. After traveling a time abroad he became an educator at home in DC, conclusively settling in there as a public servant for the Federal Government, where he performed as a Special Assistant to numerous legislators, dignitaries and policy-makers for a career that would extend well over 33 years.

Among his achievements, certainly many of which went anonymous, he assisted in financially backing the higher educations of countless family and friends. He was a successful businessman, developing and investing in commercial and residential real estate properties across these United States. He proactively served in the Republican National Committee for a great many years. Appointed to the Statehood Commission by Mayor Marion Barry in Washington, DC, Lewis fought diligently for voter and statehood rights. And these are without doubt undersized vignets of the selflessness in action that he would exhibit throughout his life.

For enjoyment, Lewis celebrated literature, the arts and travel. He was extremely well-read and knowledgeable in the artistic spheres and his travels took him to the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa. Always sharing these loves with many, he would be the influence and inspiration for a myriad of souls.

Lewis was a spiritual man, a longtime member of the Episcopal Church. He is survived by his siblings Mary L. Soto, William J. Thompson, Sr., James M. Thompson, Dorothy M. Thompson, Delores A. Davis, and countless nieces, nephews, their siblings and friends alike.

We thank him for sharing his time with us. A memorial service will be held in Florida on April 16.