Over the course of his 37-year career, the late Robert B. Lewis III (BS Chemical Engineering ’81) helped develop and improve well-known household products like Febreze and Cascade dishwasher detergent, and popular beverages, like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, and Aquafina.
Lewis was also a changemaker for his alma mater. He donated to the Tickle College of Engineering’s (TCE) Engineering Diversity Program and served on the search committee for the college’s Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He sat on the TCE Board of Advisers from 2020 to 2024 and on the UT Alumni Board of Directors from 2012 to 2018 (serving as its president from 2017–2018).
In 2023, Lewis was honored with a UT Distinguished Alumni Award. And now Lewis, who passed away on October 31, 2024, at the age of 65 after a lengthy battle with cancer, is being inducted into the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering’s (CBE) Hall of Fame.
“This honor would mean everything to him. He was very proud of being part of UT. He felt UT gave him the opportunity to pursue his career,” said his widow, Rosalind Lewis (BS Psychology ‘81). “I’m sure he’s smiling down, very happy.”
Lewis was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo., the eldest of three children. His father was a police officer; his mother taught elementary school. He attended an all-male Catholic military high school.
He came to UT as part of the college’s Minority Engineering Scholarship Program. Along with a scholarship, he participated in the co-op program. He alternated between classroom learning and on-the-job experience at DuPont in Nashville.
Lewis was a member of Sigma Pi Phi, a professional fraternity. He was also active in Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity during and after his years at UT.
After graduating, Lewis went to work for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio. He stayed for 25 years, eventually becoming director of research and development for home care products where he helped develop global innovation programs for Febreze and automatic dishwasher products, including Cascade.
Lewis joined PepsiCo in New York in 2006. As a senior vice president, he was involved in many significant initiatives: developing new packaging for brands, including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lipton Tea, Tropicana, and Gatorade; introducing reduced-sugar formulations; creating “Spire,” a touch screen soda fountain; piloting PepsiCo’s first hydrofluorocarbon-free coolers; and renovating PepsiCo’s global beverage innovation center in Valhalla, N.Y.
In March 2018, Lewis received PepsiCo’s Steve Reinemund Leadership Legacy Award for promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Rosalind describes her husband as “very kind, very honest, and very generous,” and said he enjoyed mentoring UT engineering students and young employees.
In 2015, Lewis told Minority Engineer magazine that it’s important for minority engineers to pay it forward: “We have a responsibility to reach back into communities to help build the foundation for excellence in math and science, and then to reach back to our colleges and universities to hold them accountable for nurturing and developing the next generation of minority engineering talent.”
Knowing he was ill, Lewis retired from PepsiCo in 2018. “He didn’t know what the future held, and he wanted to enjoy whatever time he had left,” Rosalind said.
The couple moved from Katonah, N.Y., to Stamford, Conn., and then to Boca Raton, Fla., where they lived until Lewis passed away. Rosalind now lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Besides his wife of 23 years, Lewis is survived by the couple’s three adult children.