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Tuskegee_Airman_Lee_Archer

By Alfred Edmond, Jr. | Published December 29, 2010 | Full size is 500 × 374 pixels

Lee Archer (September 6, 1919 – January 27, 2010) Retired Lt. Col. Lee “Buddy” Archer Jr., a member of the distinguished Tuskegee Airmen, is the only black ace pilot on record, having shot down five enemy planes in WWII. His post-military career was no less outstanding. Archer broke racial barriers in the 1970s and ‘80s as one of only a few high-ranking black corporate executives at a major corporation. By 1975, he had become a General Foods vice president and was responsible for North Street Capital Corp., a specialized small business investment company that funded Essence Communications and Black Enterprise magazine. In 1985, he was an adviser to the late Reginald Lewis, helping him craft the 1987 business deal that created TLC Beatrice, the largest black-owned and -managed company in the country.

Lee Archer (September 6, 1919 – January 27, 2010) Retired Lt. Col. Lee “Buddy” Archer…