| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Profession(s) | Entrepreneur, Businessman, Chairman of Foschini Group |
| Physical Stats & More | |
| Height (approx.) | in centimeters– 183 cm in meters– 1.83 m in feet inches– 6’ |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Hair Color | Salt and Pepper |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 1959 |
| Age (as of 2021) | 62 Years |
| Nationality | He holds dual citizenship of South Africa and the UK |
| Hometown | Cape Town, South Africa |
| College/University | University of Cape Town |
| Educational Qualification | Undergraduate and Graduate degree from University of Cape Town ((WSJ)) |
| Religion/Religious Views | Judaism ((BusinessInsider)) His father, Stanley Lewis, was an active Zionist, a person who believes in the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel. |
| Ethnicity/Race | He was born in a Jewish family in Cape Town, South Africa. He is descendant of the Tribe of Levi, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. ((JeweshCemetry)) |
| Food Habit | Vegetarian/Non-Vegetarian |
| Political Inclination | Conservative Party in the UK ((the Guardian))
Note: On 27 July 2005, Lewis donated £5,000 to Liam Fox’s leadership campaign to be the next leader of the Conservative party. |
| Controversy | Liam Fox, an English politician who was appointed as Secretary of State for Defence in the UK in 2010, was accused of giving his close friend Adam Werritty inappropriate access to the Ministry of Defence. While Fox was Secretary of State for Defence, Werrity had accompanied Fox on numerous official trips, attended some of his meetings with foreign dignitaries, and had used official-looking business cards which said he was an “advisor” to Fox, without having a government post or security clearance ((telegraph)). In October 2011, The Guardian published an article accusing Michael Lewis of paying for Werritty’s flight and hotel bill to attend a 2009 conference in Israel. The article also stated that Lewis had paid for Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s 2005 trip to the United States along with five newly elected MPs. According to the article, all the MPs declared, in the register of members’ interests, that their flights and accommodation had been paid for by Michael Lewis. Later, in a clarification, The Guardian amended the article and stated that Lewis made donations to Fox’s 2005 leadership campaign, therefore he was not in control of how it was applied. It also specified that British Israel Communications Research Council (Bicom) paid for Werritty’s trip to Israel in 2009 and Lewis served as the director of Bicom until 2007; therefore, Lewis has had no involvement in the organisation in 2009, save as a donor. |
| Relationships & More | |
| Sexual Orientation | Straight |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Affairs/Girlfriends | Lady Kitty Spencer (2018-2021) |
| Marriage Date | 24 July 2021 |
| Marriage Destination | Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati, Rome |
| Family | |
| Wife/Spouse | • Leola (1985) • Lady Kitty Spencer (2021) (A Royal socialite, model, and the global ambassador for jewellery brand Bulgari and fashion company Dolce & Gabbana) |
| Children | Reportedly, together, Michael and Leola have three children who are in their 30s. |
| Parents | Father– Stanley Lewis (Businessman) Mother– Zea Lewis |
| Siblings | Renee Lewis, Wendy Lewis, and Cheryl Lewis |
| Style Quotient | |
| Assets/Properties | A mansion in central London (worth 19 million pounds; as of 2020) ((Independent)) |
| Money Factor | |
| Net Worth (approx.) | 80 million pounds i.e, R1.4 billion |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Michael Lewis
- Michael Lewis is a South African-born British business tycoon who is known for being the chairman of Foschini Group, a large South African fashion chain. In 2021, he came into the spotlight when he got married to Lady Kitty Spencer, an English noblewoman who is well known for being the niece of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the eldest child of Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer.
- His paternal grandfather, the Latvian-born Meyer Lewis, established a furniture company in Cape Town in 1934, which was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1946. His father, Stanley Lewis, followed the steps of his entrepreneurial father and bought a controlling stake in Foschini 1980s.
- In the 1980s, Stanley relocated to London in the U.K, before the fall of apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation, which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation’s minority white population. In London, Stanley established the family’s investment vehicle Oceana Investment Corporation, which is best known in the UK for its attempt to take over the Etam clothing chain in 1992. In 1987, Michael Lewis joined Oceana Investment Corporation as a fund manager in Edinburgh and London. Thereafter, he jointly managed the family’s business interests with his father.
- From September 2006 to December 2007, he served as the director of BICOM. Since 2007, he has had no involvement in the organisation, save as a donor.
- Michael Lewis invested in one of Germany’s largest newspaper groups Alex Springer when he bought a three percent share in 2006 for E104 million (R775 million).
- Previously, he had held the position of founder-cum-chairman in ProChon Biotech Ltd., an Israeli biotech company.
- In 2008, he was working as an executive director at Oceana Capital Partners LLP and as a director at UTB Partners Ltd.
- In 2009, Lewis founded Oceana Investment Partners LLP in London. Later, he also became the founder of Oceana Investment Corporation.
- Michael Lewis is a trustee of the family’s charitable foundation, the Stanley & Zea Lewis Family Foundation, which provides aid to numerous Jewish causes as well as other charities. In memory of the philanthropist Stanley Lewis, who died in 2009, the Lewis family foundation donated 3 million pounds, i.e., approximately R56 million, to Oxford University in 2011 to fund a Professor of Israel Studies appointment.
- In 2011, he became the chairman of Oceana Investment Corp. Ltd and became its chairman-cum-partner in 2013.
- Additionally, he has served as the non-executive director at Oceana Fund Managers (Jersey) Ltd., Oceana Concentrated Opportunities Fund Ltd., and United Trust Bank Ltd.
- In 2014, he became the chairman of Strandbags Holdings Pty Ltd.
- He has also held the position of chairman of the London-based think tank, Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Apart from that, Lewis is a board member of five other companies including Histogenics Corp.
- He marked his prominence in 2015 when he became the chairman of The Foschini Group Ltd.
- In 2018, he started dating Lady Kitty Spencer. Later, in the same year, speculations of their relationship began when the British conservative newspaper The Mail on Sunday revealed that Lady Spencer and businessman Lewis had been spotted spending a lot of time together. Lewis proposed to Spencer in Cape Town during the Christmas holidays in 2019, while the couple were on holiday with family.
- Unlike his social media freak wife, Lady Kitty Spencer, who actively posts amusing pictures of glimpses into her daily life on her Instagram account, Michael Lewis isn’t active on any social media platform.
- The 62-year-old millionaire businessman is 32 years older than Lady Kitty Spencer. Furthermore, he is five years older than her father, Earl Spencer.