From Butch Meily, trusted public relations strategist to Reginald Lewis, the history-making African American dealmaker, comes an eye-opening business narrative. From Manila to Wall Street tells two stories: the first includes daring corporate takeovers, an exorbitant global lifestyle, and the fatal brain tumor that claimed Lewis’s life at age 50. Lewis struggled to reach the top, only to see his attempt to become the first African American-controlled company listed on the New York Stock Exchange fail and his Hamptons mansion burn to the ground. The second story is that of a young Filipino immigrant at Lewis’s side. Meily reaches the highest tier of corporate public relations in New York, making a million dollars in one year. Yet, after his wife leaves him, Meily discovers that power, glory, and riches can bring loneliness and isolation. He began his relationship with Lewis as an employee and became his closest adviser and first-hand witness to the tormented, solitary man behind the image of a wildly successful takeover king.

“This memoir introduces you to the world of business and big mergers. As a great literary piece, it also reflects on the true meaning and purpose of life. It is written with clarity and honesty. The reader will find his life enriched by this book.”     

—Richard V. Croghan, retired educator and former Associate Dean at the University of New Mexico

“Butch Meily is the quintessential Bud Fox of the movie Wall Street, a brilliant and ambitious participant in the high-stakes game of the 1980s. In the process, he lost perspective of what really matters in his life. He finds redemption in serving his people hit by disasters. And so his story continues.”

—Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman of The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation and former CEO of TLC Beatrice International 

I worked with Butch Meily and he has captured a moment in time in this thrilling and humorous memoir about his masterful management of Reg Lewis’s profile—from the unprecedented leveraged buyout of Beatrice Foods International to Lewis’s untimely death. I was grateful to see it all and recommend this terrific read.”

—Chris Atkins, former Managing Director, Corporate Practice, Ogilvy Public Relations; former Vice President, Corporate Communications, Standard & Poor’s; former Managing Director, Public Relations, PricewaterhouseCoopers

“From Manila to Wall Street lays bare the triumph and tragedy of a meteoric rise to the top of the business world during the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. The endless days, the trans-Atlantic dashes, the shouting and verbal abuse … accompanied by fabulous dinners, stays at the best hotels, unbelievable salaries … in the end added up to great sadness.  The author learned well his lessons about love and life, but learned them too late to save what was most precious. All the years of helping the leading Black entrepreneur run an enormous international corporation were viewed in a new light following his leader’s early death.  Experience the lows and highs of an amazing journey from young international student at a huge U.S. university to trusted No. 2 at an enormous cross-national enterprise.  And at the end, share the author’s deep satisfaction at his new, all-absorbing passion:  helping those who have fallen victim to the ills imposed by nature.”

—Kurt Kent, Professor Emeritus, University of Florida