Cannabis Philanthropist Peter Lewis Passes Away

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Cannabis Philanthropist Peter Lewis Passes Away

Peter Lewis, Chairman of Progressive insurance, has passed away today at the age of 80. Lewis was found in his home in Coconut Grove, Florida.peterlewis

Peter Lewis is known within the cannabis community as one of the movements largest donors – in the past couple decades he’s donated millions of his own dollars to bring forth cannabis law reform throughout the U.S., including being instrumental in passing cannabis legalization initiatives in both Washington and Colorado last year. Lewis has also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to successful medical cannabis legalization proposals, and millions of dollars to progressive organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and MoveOn.org.

One could argue that Peter Lewis changed the dynamic of the cannabis reform movement, and directly contributed to the rapidly growing shift in public opinion. Few people (if any) have played a larger role in bringing cannabis reform to the mainstream.

Lewis became the CEO of Progressive Corp. at its inception in 1965, before stepping down in 2000 to focus primarily on his philanthropy, once it it had grown into one of the largest auto insurers in the world.


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4 Comments

  • Corey DOnahue
    November 24, 2013

    Chairman of Progressive insurance…Cannabis DUI. Connect the dots and we have why cannabis duis are forced on us not for our benifit but for the bottom line of an insurance company. He is not a philanthropist he is just another business man worried about his bottom line, don´t let an MPP fluff peice fool you.

  • Closet Smoker
    November 24, 2013

    I do not see how a insurance company would really have a horse in the race. The only thing that prohibition would affect the insurance biz is risk management. This gentleman donated an awful lot of his own money to the cause of legalization. There are times when one must get off our negative high horse and realize not all established businesses are against us.

  • Auntikrist
    November 24, 2013

    I really am grateful that he was instrumental in helping me to access my medical cannabis, but is there anywhere (links) that his “opinions” and ideas about cannabis can be found? I would like to know WHY he was such a supporter.

    • moldy
      November 25, 2013

      From what I’ve heard cannabis helped him with an alcohol problem. This could be bull but just going on my poor memory for now. I guess all 1%ers ain’t that bad. RIP Peter and thanks for your support!

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