My name is Linwood (Lin) Hart and I'm the author of the book, "Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice: The Young Man Before The Billion-Dollar Empire." I've carried the details of this book, in the recesses of my memory, for a lot of years. Two years ago, I finally decided to write the book.  In doing so, I've chosen to focus on a specific 10 year period of Reginald F. Lewis's life. While during his lifetime, he accumulated great wealth and was arguably the richest African American on the planet, this book is not about the money. It's about young Reginald before the money. It's about the challenges he overcame as he transformed himself from being an ordinary guy to become the CEO of a $2 Billion Company and an extraordinary  historical figure. I'm a Maryland native, having lived as a teenager in the same West Baltimore neighborhood that Reginald F. Lewis's family moved to in 1952. Young Reginald and I met and became friends in 1956. We later became roomates and football teammates at Virginia State University, remaining friends until Reginald's untimely death in 1883. After nearly 30 years of service, I retired in 1995 from AT&T Network Systems. In my last position, I served as Network Systems Engineering Director for International Services.  I left AT&T, to start my own company Lin Hart & Associates, specializing in speaker services and leadership coaching. I am a graduate of Virginia State University. I currently in Chesterfield, Missouri, with my wife, the former Frances Washington from Winchester Virginia. We are the parents of two children, Lin Hart Jr. and the late Gail Hart Stanfield.