Peter Lewis, 1929–2024, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, 1972–1993

We are extremely sad to hear that Peter Lewis, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership from 1972 to 1993 has passed away. We send our deepest condolences to his children Patrick and Kate and his family and friends.

Peter Lewis, who became the Partnership’s third Chairman in 1972, was the son of Oswald Lewis, the nephew of John Spedan Lewis, the Founder of the Partnership. Peter was the father of Kate, who worked as a Central Buyer for John Lewis and Patrick Lewis, our former Executive Director, Finance.

Peter joined the Partnership in 1959 as a management trainee and, after his initial months in the Partnership, became Manager of the Stationery department at John Lewis, Oxford Street, before being appointed Central Buyer for Stationery in 1960. In the years that followed, he moved to other key roles such as Assistant General Inspector, Assistant Director of Trading, Department Stores, and then becoming Director of Trading, Department Stores before being appointed Deputy Chairman in 1970 and Chairman in October 1972. 

Under Peter’s chairmanship, the Partnership underwent considerable change and technological development from trialling the first electronic cash registers at Peter Jones in 1974 before they were rolled out across the entire shop estate; the opening of many new John Lewis stores from Edinburgh to Kingston; Waitrose celebrating its 100th store opening and Partnership sales hitting £1bn for the first time. 

On receiving the sad news, Sharon White, Chairman said: “I never had the pleasure of meeting Peter personally, though I worked with his son, Patrick. Peter and I did exchange messages from time to time. As is traditional, I write to my predecessors the day before our financial results are announced to share with them the numbers. Peter quite often used to write back with an encouraging word, which I always appreciated. There will be Partners in the Partnership today who remember Peter as Chairman and I know he will be sorely missed by so many.”