Delano Eugene Lewis

Born in 1938 in Arkansas City, Delano Lewis went on to graduate from the University of Kansas in 1960 in Lawrence and Washburn University School of Law in 1963 in Topeka. Lewis became an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a director of the Peace Corps in Nigeria and Uganda from 1966 to 1969. He served as public affairs manager for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company in Washington, D.C. and was appointed CEO in 1990. In 1993 he became the first African American to serve as CEO for National Public Radio, a position he held until 1998. He served as U.S. ambassador to South African from 1999 to 2001.