Nationality British Role Entrepreneur | Name Bernard Lewis Net worth £1.25 billion | |
Occupation Founder and owner, River Island | ||
 Born 10 February 1926 (age 94) | ||
Bernard Lewis (born 10 February 1926) is the English entrepreneur behind the River Island fashion brand and clothing chain.
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Early life
He was born in 10 February 1926, and educated at the Jewish Free School, and Northern Polytechnic Institute. He served in the RAF from 1944 to 1945.
Career
Lewis opened his first fruit and vegetable shop in the North London area (on Holloway Road) at the age of 20. His first clothes shop was in Mare Street, Hackney.
During the 1970's, he launched a chain of clothing stores, later called Chelsea Girl.
Lewis also founded Lewis Separates.
He founded the Lewis Trust Group with his elder brother David and younger brother Geoffrey, but the latter two left in 1977.
Lewis, who is Jewish, is estimated to be worth £1,030m (€1,484m). In 2015, he was at position 83 on the Sunday times Rich List.
River Island is now run by his nephew, Ben Lewis.
Personal life
His "right-hand man in the 1970s" was Leonard, his elder son from his first marriage.
In 1981, he married Vanessa Bracey who had been a buyer for Chelsea Girl since 1970, and whom he had been in a relationship with since 1972. They have two sons : Sam and Jacob.