From New York to Manila, Butch Meily brings Reginald Lewis’ story to Filipinos (Rappler)

Original article

‘I hope to keep that light burning for everyone to see,’ says author Butch Meily as he honors the legacy of America’s first Black tycoon

MANILA, Philippines – On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Filipinos gathered in Bonifacio Global City not just for a book launch, but a story that had made its way from New York to Manila.

In From Manila to Wall Street: An Immigrant’s Journey with America’s First Black Tycoon, public relations executive, author, and social impact leader Butch Meily recounts his life alongside Reginald Lewis, the first African American to build and lead a billion-dollar global company, breaking racial barriers in Wall Street — who was also Meily’s partner in PR.

The event, held at Fully Booked BGC and attended by family, friends, and stage actors who performed excerpts from the book, marked a poignant homecoming. 

“It took me 40 years to get here,” Meily said, recalling his long journey from a corporate office in New York to a deeply personal reflection on ambition, race, regret, and legacy.

‘Larger than life’

“Keep going, no matter what,” was Reginald Lewis’ motto, and it’s a saying Meily hopes will stay with young readers.

“No matter what happens, when somebody knocks you down, whether it’s race, whether it’s your personal confidence, whatever the problem is, whether you have a tough boss, you’ve got to pick yourself up and do it,” he said.

Lewis — who came from a semi-tough, poor neighborhood in Baltimore, and reached the pinnacle of corporate America — was “larger than life,” said Meily. 

A Harvard Law graduate, Lewis lived without apologies. He fought for a Fifth Avenue residence where Black Americans were unwelcome. He owned a mansion in the Hamptons that mysteriously burned down. He never stopped pushing boundaries — not in real estate, not in business, not in life.

“He always wanted something else,” Meily recalled. “He wanted to be in a Paris apartment — he wanted the best. He wanted an apartment in the Rockefeller building, with the sister of Jackie Kennedy living next to him. He wanted a mansion in the Hamptons — he wanted the biggest mansion in the Hamptons. He wanted a personal play; he had an artist paint something original — an original artwork for the play. So it was always something more.”

“He was the first Black person to bid a billion dollars for a company,” Meily said. “He overcame so many barriers, especially his race, and all the discrimination. And yet he reached the top.”

AGAINST ALL ODDS. (Left) A portrait of Reginald Lewis. Photo from Loida Lewis’ Facebook page. (Top) The cover of Butch Meily’s book on the American tycoon

But the story isn’t just Lewis’ — it’s also Meily’s. It’s the story of a Filipino immigrant carving out a place in 1980s corporate America, gradually reckoning with how race is experienced differently across Black and Asian communities, and realizing that while ambition can break barriers, it also leaves things broken behind.

“I wish I had done things differently,” Meily admitted during the Q&A. “Maybe I should have spent more time with my family. Maybe I should have spent more time with my ex-wife. Maybe I should have been nicer to her. You know, so I have plenty of regrets.”

And those regrets help form the emotional undercurrent of a story that isn’t just about success, but also about what’s sacrificed in pursuit of it. And for Meily — an immigrant chasing the American dream — those sacrifices looked very different from the ones Lewis had to make. Their partnership thrived across difference, but was also shaped by it.

Two men, two worlds

At the heart of From Manila to Wall Street is not just a story of two men, but of two worlds colliding. Meily, a Filipino immigrant, carried with him the optimism that the American dream still promised — that hard work and talent could overcome background, and that merit alone could earn opportunity. But Lewis carried a different inheritance — one shaped by systemic exclusion, racial trauma, and a lifetime of being told where he could and couldn’t belong.

“Neither of you understand. When you’re Black in this country, they lead you to the water, but they won’t let you drink,” Lewis once told Meily and his wife Loida, also a Filipina. “As a Black man, I don’t just want a seat at the table. I want to sit at the head of the table. You Filipinos have this candy cane vision of America that doesn’t exist,” Meily writes in his book.

“I think all Filipinos are racists basically, although I never sensed that with you, Butch,” Lewis continued, accusing Meily of viewing the US through the rose-tinted lenses of Hollywood movies.

“You don’t know. But every Black guy worth his salt grows up with a sense of anger. Every time I score, I kick the shit out of the lie that Blacks aren’t good enough. You can be as rich as anyone, but when a cop pulls you over, you’ve got to be extra careful,” said Lewis.

SIGNED AND SEALED. Meily seals Lewis’s legacy by autographing copies during the book signing, bringing his story to Filipino readers. Photo courtesy of Elly John Carig