Lewis' awards and honors include The Henry Johnson Fisher Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; the Good Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America; the United Negro College Fund's Lifetime Achievement Award; the Dow Jones Our World News Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence; the Good Guy Award from the Democratic Women's Political Caucus; the Minority Businessman of the Year Award from the Interracial Council for Business Opportunity; and The Men Who Dare Award from the Black Women's Forum of Los Angeles. In June 2000, he was one of the recipients of the Golden Plate Award, thereby becoming a member of the elite American Academy of Achievement. The Academy presents this award annually to men and women of exceptional accomplishment in the sciences, professions, business, industry, arts, literature, sports, entertainment and public services.

Lewis served as chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America from 1997 to 1999 and was the first African-American to hold this position in the 75-year history of the organization. He is a past chairman and current board member of TransAfrica Forum, a member of the Leadership Council of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, the Harvard Business School Board of Directors of the Associates, the Economic Club of New York and a committee member of the Minority Business RoundTable of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He sits on the boards of the New York City Partnership; the Times Square Business Improvement District; the Central Park Conservancy; Girls, Inc.; The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc. (A&P); NYC2012, the committee leading New York’s bid effort to host the 2012 Olympic Games; the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CTFA); The Advertising Council; the Board of Jazz at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC). He is a Member, Board of Visitors, Howard University, John Johnson School of Communications.