Edward Lewis (Decca)

Sir
Edward Lewis
Sir Edward Lewis, pictured around 1970
Born
Edward Roberts Lewis

19 April 1900
Derby, England
Died29 January 1980 (aged 79)
EducationRugby School
Trinity College, Cambridge
OccupationBusiness entrepreneur
Known forDecca Records

Sir Edward Roberts Lewis (19 April 1900 – 29 January 1980) was an English businessman, best known for leading the Decca recording and technology group for five decades from 1929. He built the company up from nothing to one of the major record labels of the world.

A financier by profession, Lewis was professionally engaged by the fledgling Decca company. Having failed to persuade its directors to diversify from making record-players to making records, he raised the capital to take the company over, and ran it until his death. Among the ground-breaking achievements of Decca under Lewis were the "Decca Navigation System" (the leading maritime and aviation navigation system prior to GPS), the Decca "ffrr" recording technology, and the first release on record of Wagner's Ring cycle.