2026 SPECIAL SESSION I
ENROLLED
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2050
Celebrating the life of Frances Aaronson Lewis.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, June 22, 2026
WHEREAS, Frances Aaronson Lewis, an accomplished businesswoman and cofounder of Best Products Company, dedicated art collector, generous philanthropist, and beloved member of the Richmond community, died on January 10, 2026; and
WHEREAS, born in Brooklyn, New York, Frances Lewis graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., in 1938 before earning her bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan; and
WHEREAS, in 1957, Frances Lewis and her husband, Sydney, founded Best Products Company, a mail order catalog retailer based in Richmond that would grow to become a publicly traded company with more than 150 stores across the nation; and
WHEREAS, Frances Lewis was an avid art collector who maintained close friendships with many acclaimed artists over the years, which enabled her to amass an extraordinary private collection of 20th-century contemporary art; and
WHEREAS, in addition to donating more than 1,500 pieces of art to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Frances and Sydney Lewis also gave generously to support the arts program at Virginia Commonwealth University; and
WHEREAS, in 1972, Frances and Sydney Lewis gave $9 million to the Washington and Lee University School of Law, which led to Sydney Lewis Hall and the Frances Lewis Law Center being named in their honor; and