Lewis, former UP CEO, dies at 84

Andrew Lindsay Lewis Jr. ran the Union Pacific Railroad for more than a decade during a period of heavy acquisition activity, helping to build it into the second largest railroad in North America.    Andrew Lindsay Lewis Jr., who served for more than a decade as chief executive officer of Union Pacific Railroad, died Feb. 10 at age 84, according to the company.
   Lewis served concurrently as UP’s president from 1987 to 1997 and was chairman for one year between 1986 and 1987.
   He was a key player in the railroad’s merger with the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1988, the Chicago & North Western Railroad in 1995 and the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1996. The acquisitions were part of a consolidation wave that left the railroad industry with seven Class I railroads in North America.
   Lewis joined UP from Warner Amex Cable Communications, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer. Before that post, Lewis was secretary of transportation in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1983. His early career was as a business executive at manufacturing and cable installation companies.
   He also served at various times on the boards of American Express, Ford Motor Co., Gannett Co. and SmithKline Beecham.
   Lewis was heavily involved in politics throughout his adult life. He was Richard Schweiker’s campaign manager during Schweiker’s successful runs for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Lewis himself was the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania’s 1974 governor race, and he later held leadership roles in Ronald Reagan’s successful presidential campaign and with the Republican National Committee.
   Lewis held a B.S. from Haverford College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also completed postgraduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.