Lewis was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, the son of Eugene Lebowitz, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who lost family members to the Holocaust.
"[7] Lewis and his partners set about to build an upper class development centered around the Aventura Country Club with a golf course designed by architect Robert Trent Jones.
In 1969, Metro-Dade County approved the 23,900 condo unit master plan which included the construction of a fire station, a library, and a causeway to Sunny Isles Beach.
In 1983, Arlen Realty defaulted on a $39 million mortgage and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Lewis and his partners purchased the remaining 68 acres of undeveloped land and built the Aventura Mall, among other high-profile projects in South Florida.
Both Lewis and Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr. were partners in the One Oxford Centre skyscraper project and made an offer to purchase the Pittsburgh Pirates major league baseball team in 1981.
Lewis belonged to the older generation of Pittsburgh real estate developers – such as Joseph Soffer, Jack Buncher, Stanley Gumberg, and Leonard Rudolph – who conducted business with a handshake.
[11] Despite keeping a low profile with the press, Lewis' famed yacht Monkey Business became an internationally known household name after a visit by Presidential-hopeful Gary Hart sunk his political campaign.