Thomas Edwin Lewis, Jr., longtime resident of Tallahassee, Florida, died peacefully after a long and valiant battle with cancer, on December 28, 2019, encompassed by the love of his wife and best friend Cynthia, and his family.
Tom Lewis was a military veteran, a successful Architect, a high-level state official, a community leader and senior executive with the Walt Disney Co., and at the time of his death, an attorney. Born in Atlanta to Judge Thomas E. Lewis, Sr., and Mary Lyndon Lewis and raised in Griffin, Georgia along with his siblings, he was a 1957 graduate of Griffin High School and attended Georgia Tech where he graduated with Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Architecture, and Masters of Architecture degrees. He was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and played on the Georgia Tech football team in his freshman and sophomore years. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a 2d Lt, USAF and served with combined active and reserve duties for 29 years, retiring in 1990 from the Air Force Reserve in the rank of Colonel, USAF. At the time of his retirement, Colonel Lewis was a member of the Engineering and Services staff at Headquarters, USAF in the Pentagon.
The Air Force brought Mr. Lewis to Florida in 1969 to McCoy AFB in Orlando, where he was Director of Programs for the Base Civil Engineering Squadron. While at McCoy, Mr. Lewis was instrumental in starting the “POW-MIA: Don’t Let Them Be Forgotten” organization, whose mission was to help the families and children of those who were missing in action or prisoners of the Vietnam War. Captain Lewis was also involved in the initial discussions for the turn-over of McCoy AFB to the City of Orlando, which began his public service involvement in the Orlando community. He left active duty in 1972 and began his professional architectural career in Orlando and Winter Park, Florida. It was during this time that he met Orlando Mayor, Carl Langford, who appointed him as Chairman of the Orlando Zoning Commission and Vice Chairman of the City of Orlando Municipal Planning Board. Mr. Lewis founded an architectural-planning firm and built it into one of Central Florida’s leading firms. Prominent in the work of his firm is the State Office Building complex in downtown Orlando, several dormitories at the University of Central Florida, and the Animal-Dairy Science Center at the University of Florida. He had also been recognized as one of Engineering News Record magazine’s “Men of the Year”. Mr. Lewis was a registered Architect in the State of Florida and retained his professional license up to his death. He was a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects, selected by his peers, and the highest honor bestowed by members of the AIA. He had also previously been a full member of the Urban Land Institute and served on its Development Regulation and Public-Private Development Councils.
Mr. Lewis left his architectural practice, and Orlando, in 1979 to join the administration of Florida Governor, Bob Graham. He served the state, under Graham, for eight years, as a Special Assistant to the Governor and a member of the Governor’s Legislative lobbying team as one of the Governor’s Cabinet Aides. In 1981, Governor Graham sent Mr. Lewis to the Florida Department of Transportation where he eventually became the Assistant Secretary. In 1985, Lewis became Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs where he was one of the key authors of Florida’s landmark growth management legislation and the subsequent rules implementing that legislation.
Lewis left state service in early 1987 to join Disney Development Co. (DDC), the new real estate development arm of The Walt Disney Co. Lewis was the first person hired by Disney for non-theme park, non-resort development. He began his Disney career as Director of Residential Development and subsequently as Vice President of Community Development for DDC, and later Walt Disney Imagineering. From 1987 to 1992, Mr. Lewis was Disney’s lead executive responsible for the day to day planning and design of its new Town of Celebration project. During this period, Celebration’s master planning was accomplished, initial business and marketing plans developed, and public approvals obtained. From 1992 to 1998, he was one of three senior Disney executives responsible for the initial development of Celebration, specializing in overseeing the planning, design, and government/community relation aspects of the project. In addition, he was Disney’s lead executive for all external transportation and growth management matters and led successful public-private partnership regulations to achieve an $800,000,000 road development program, including the southeastern end of the Greenway, Osceola Parkway, three new interchanges on Interstate 4 and the southern end of the Western Beltway, in Orange and Osceola counties.
Mr. Lewis was very active in civic and community organizations throughout his life in Florida, serving on the Boards of Directors of the Orlando-area Chamber of Commerce, Loch Haven Art Center, Junior Achievement of Orange County, Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida, Kissimmee-Osceola County Chamber of Commerce where he served as Chairman in 2001, and Community Vision. He continued state service as a member, and Vice Chairman, of the Florida Ethics Commission and as Chairman of the Building Code Study Commission, which evaluated the need for a statewide building code in Florida. In 1998, he led the effort to pass new legislation establishing the framework for a unified, statewide building code and the new Florida Building Commission.
In Lewis’s last years with Disney, he served as a Vice President of the Walt Disney Co. He was an active part of the company’s government relations team and was Disney’s lead executive in the initiative to develop a high-speed rail connection between Orlando International Airport and the Walt Disney World Resort. He also represented Disney in its role in the development of a light rail transit System for the Central Florida region.
Just before re-entering state service in Tallahassee, Lewis entered Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law in Orlando and completed his law studies graduating Cum Laude with a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University, College of Law. Simultaneously, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Mr. Lewis as Secretary of the Department of Management Services. Lewis finished his state service as Assistant Secretary of Administration and Special Assistant to the Chief Information Officer at the Department of Children and Families and was a Florida Supreme Court Certified Civil Circuit Mediator and Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator.
Mr. Lewis’s greatest accomplishments were as a husband, father, grandfather and friend and was recognized by his friends and colleagues as a true gentleman, a Great Floridian, a mentor, and one of the finest public servants ever known, who always took an interest in the success and hard work of others.
In addition to his wife, Cynthia, Mr. Lewis leaves behind his daughter Laura Blischke (Karl) of Pennsylvania, son Tom C. Lewis of Athens, Ga; six grandchildren- Madeleine Lewis, Evan Lewis, Ash Lewis, and Graeme Lewis of Athens, Ga., Olivia Stone of Tallahassee, Florida, and Kate Stone of Orlando, Florida. He is also survived by his sister Lyn Lewis Parker of Eastman, Georgia and numerous nieces and nephews.
A service for Mr. Lewis will be held on Friday, January 10, 2020 at 2:00 PM, St. Peter’s Anglican Cathedral, Tallahassee, Florida. Flowers may be sent to the church at 4784 Thomasville Road., Tallahassee, Florida, 32809 prior to his service. The family will receive friends immediately following at a reception in the Parrish Hall. A Celebration of Life service for Tom Lewis will be held in Celebration, Florida at a date and time to be determined soon.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18