Mr. Matthew Lewis, Jr. 94, of Thomasville passed away Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at Hospice Home at High Point. Matthew was born March 8, 1930 in McDonald County, Pennsylvania to the late Matthew Lewis, Sr. and Alzenia Heath Lewis Kemp. Matthew was of the Baptist faith. He lived in Washington, DC for many years where he was employed with the Washington Post. He served as the Washington Post photographer who won the Pulitzer Prize for his portfolio of Washington-area personalities and ways of life and who became the newspaper’s first Black assistant managing editor. Earlier in life, Matthew enjoyed playing the saxophone, he went to Howard University in 1947 as a music major, he realized music was not for him and he soon quit college. He served his country in the United States Navy as a corpsman, then returned to Pittsburgh for work in a steel foundry in the early 1950s. He had a career epiphany after being turned down for a raise. Matthew worked many jobs to provide for his family. He studied jazz saxophone, worked in sandblasting steel and was an audiovisual assistant for eight years at Morgan State, a historically Black college and later university in Baltimore. He was 33 by the time he began working as a freelance photographer for Black newspapers, covering the August 1963 March on Washington and President John F. Kennedy’s funeral that November. In 1990, Mr. Lewis left his home in Maryland and relocated to Thomasville for family reasons. He spent six years as a staff photographer with the Thomasville Times in North Carolina. He truly enjoyed the local Thomasville community and was well known as a humble spirited man.

Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his wives, Helen Timmerson Lewis and Lucille Hardrick Lewis; a daughter, Charlene Smith, who passed in 2022; two sisters, Doris Lewis Sargent, Debbie Susan Kemp; one brother, Marvin Lewis, Sr.

In 1974 he married, Jeannine Wells Lewis, who survives of the home, he is also survived by his two sons Matthew M. Lewis (Barbara), Kevin Lewis (Anita); two stepsons, Leon Martin (Gwen) and Jesse Martin; numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; he also leaves behind many beloved nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will be held Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 12:00 PM at. J.C. Green and Sons Funeral Home Chapel, 122 W. Main Street, Thomasville, NC 27360 with Rev. Ellis Carson officiating. Burial will follow at Salisbury National Cemetery, 501 Statesville Blvd., Salisbury, NC 28144 with full military honors at 2:00 PM. The family will receive friends Wednesday, October 23, 2024 from 6:00 PM-8:00 PM at J.C. Green and Sons Funeral Home.  Following the burial, a repass will be held for family and close friends at the family home.  Online condolences may be made to the family at www.jcgreenandsons.com.