Lewis "L.R." Ronald Byrd

Lewis R. Byrd, affectionately known as "L.R." is the son of the late Felicia Davis Byrd and Lewis Byrd Sr. in Greenville, SC.  As an only child he always seemed to find a way to be the center of attention.  He started developing his leadership skills in the Rock Hill Baptist Church boy scout troop.  He was the primary lifeguard at Pleasant Ridge State Park, known as the "Black State Park."  Multiple encounters with everyone he met, always seemed to start with, "you taught me how to swim."  At a young age he began his civil rights walk and was one of the first students to legally challenge the racial segregation policy of the Greenville County school district.  He enrolled at Carolina High School and was part of the 1963 lawsuit challenging the institution of "separate but equal."  This lawsuit resulted in a ruling that cleared the way for desegregation based on a freedom of choice model allowing parents to enroll their kids at different schools.  After high school he enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University, which was already the center of attention in the civil rights struggle.  There he continued his desire to fight for the rights and liberties of others.  As a college graduate he returned to Greenville with a good friend and they ran one of the most successful nightclubs in Greenville, known to everyone as, "The Ghana."  However, still feeling the need to be that voice, he managed and later purchased "Focus News," a local paper dedicated to the news of the black community.  After years of having doors shut in his face by businesses that would not invest in the community but expected blacks to continue to spend money in those same businesses, fueled his next endeavors.  L.R. became a consultant with the NAACP and was the brains behind initiatives such as the B.E.E plan (Black Economic Education), Operation Fair Share and Black Dollar Days .  These programs all revolved around spending money with those companies and businesses that spent money in the black community.  This national exposure afforded him an opportunity to work with Nations Bank where he worked to develop business plans to get small businesses approved for low interest loans.  He later ended his career providing consulting services for various Fortune 500 companies.  In his retirement he was a paraprofessional for special needs kids in the same Greenville Co. School system that had fought to keep him out.  However, his passion was reaching out to his, "loyal, lovable, listeners," on his radio talk show where his TWEET TWEET was recognized all over the airwaves.  L.R. had an infectious personality and an uncanny ability to make people laugh, smile and curse all in the same conversation!  He was a child of God, a husband, a father, a grandfather and a friend that had never met a stranger.