Born in Hebburn-on-Tyne near Newcastle, he was one of eight children. His father was a Royal Navy sailor serving on minesweepers who died when Mr Lewis was only four years old.
After leaving school, Mr Lewis became an apprentice welder working in shipyards around Newcastle. He then did his National Service in the Royal Signals. After being demobbed he took a summer job as a handyman at Butlin’s holiday camp, where he met his future wife, waitress Elizabeth Norma.
He then moved to Australia but returned to Tyneside a year later to marry Norma. The couple went into business together and put all their savings into buying a grocer’s shop.
At that time the British government had built a number of large housing estates a few miles from Newcastle. There was no transport system to take people to the shops and Mr and Mrs Lewis saw an opportunity to provide ‘mobile shops’ to these areas, taking supplies to the people. Mrs Lewis drove one of the ‘shops’ and to save money they lived with their parents.
Using some of those savings, Mr Lewis bought a bankrupt trucking company and turned a loss of £20,000 into a profit of £6,000 in its first year. He then sold the shops and the trucking company to buy an ailing bus company, the TMS Bus Company, based in County Durham. Then he set up two other bus companies, one in Newcastle and one in Teesside, as well as five coach companies, offering luxury travel to continental resorts.
Mr Lewis first visited Jersey in 1968. He had heard that the Jersey Motor Transport Company was finding it difficult to make a profit and might be prepared to sell out. However, it was not until 12 November 1970 before he finally closed the deal, buying the company for £209,000.
He owned 98.5 per cent of the Jersey company, which included the Weighbridge terminal, a restaurant in Bouley Bay, a house at Five Oaks and some valuable leases, including a terminus at St Aubin.
Mr Lewis ran the JMT for more than 32 years until the States awarded a contract to Connex to take over the Island’s bus service.
Mr Lewis expanded his businesses in Jersey, buying out Tantivy Motors, Blue Eagle, Redline, Mascot, Holiday Tours, Blue Coach and Pioneer. He also acquired the Café Romany at Grève de Lecq and the former Boardwalk Café in St Brelade and set up the Oliver Twist Café at the Weighbridge.
Mr and Mrs Lewis had three children – Susan, Chris and Mark. In Jersey the family lived at Old Forge Lane in Grouville and Rose Farm at Mont Cochon. Chris and Mark were educated in Jersey. Chris now runs the Diamond Group, which consists of their coaching, restaurant and attractions businesses, and Mark is a commercial lawyer. Mr and Mrs Lewis have 11 grandchildren.
In 1990 Mr Lewis went into semi-retirement, selling all his UK businesses and investing most of the proceeds into the Living Legend.
He was known to his friends and workmates as a modest man, very friendly to everyone he met and own-to-earth, humble, trusting and generous. Mr Lewis, who had a strong Christian faith, ran his companies like family operations and his employees described him as ‘a caring, decent man’.
The Jersey Evening Post extends sympathy to his family and friends.
Bob Lewis during his days with the Jersey Motor Transport Company in 1977, and on a social
occasion with his wife, Norma
