Lewis's Mom Blames Donna Harris For Death

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

Boston Herald - Http://www.bostonherald.com

Mother blames Harris-Lewis in son's death
by Jack Sullivan 
Friday, May 19, 2000

Reggie Lewis' mother yesterday blasted her estranged daughter-in-law,
saying Donna Harris-Lewis ``bears the blame just as much as Dr. (Gilbert
H.) Mudge'' in the basketball star's death.

Inez Ritch, Reggie Lewis' mother. (Herald file photo by Ted Fitzgerald)
Inez Ritch, in a wide-ranging telephone interview with the Herald from
the Baltimore home her late son purchased for her, said Harris-Lewis
chose to ignore the diagnosis of the medical ``Dream Team'' that
determined Lewis had a deadly heart arrhythmia.

``If they had went on and stayed with the diagnosis, maybe (Lewis) would
be alive today,'' Ritch said. ``I think the choice Donna made by going
to another doctor was the wrong choice. I blame her just as much as
Mudge. She had a lot of influence on the decision. She bears the blame
just as much as Dr. Mudge did.''

A Suffolk Superior Court jury cleared Mudge of negligence last week in
the retrial of the wrongful death suit Harris-Lewis brought against him.
Ritch, who works as a security guard, said her relationship with
Harris-Lewis is ``polite'' but added she only found out about the jury
verdict when a friend mailed her a story.

While Ritch declined to comment on Harris-Lewis' decision to appeal the
verdict, she said she still believes Mudge was negligent.

``I hope that someone or some people could find where he did play a part
in Reggie's death,'' she said. ``(Harris-Lewis) feels he was wrong and
she is going by her feelings with (the appeal). It really doesn't matter
to me. That's her and she is going to continue as long as she can.''

Neither Harris-Lewis nor her attorney could be reached for comment
yesterday.

Lewis died from a heart arrhythmia at the age of 27 on July 27, 1993,
while shooting baskets at Brandeis University in Waltham. Harris-Lewis
claimed Mudge misdiagnosed and mistreated the Boston Celtics' captain
for a benign fainting disorder.

Ritch, who turns 54 next Wednesday, attended most of the first trial
last year but did not come to Boston for this year's trial. She said her
presence last year was a ploy by Harris-Lewis to give an appearance of
unity.

``During the trial, it was a front, a show of image,'' said Ritch. ``I
thought I was welcome but now I know I wasn't.''

Ritch, a recovering drug addict, remains bitter that she and her three
other children - Sheron Lewis, 37, Irvin Lewis, 35, and Jon Ritch, 32 -
were left out of her son's will, in which he bequeathed his entire $12
million estate to Harris-Lewis.

``I was supposed to work with the foundation, but after Reggie's death
we were cut completely,'' Ritch said. ``As far as Reggie not wanting to
give us anything, I don't believe that crap. One day it will all come
out. I know that Reggie loved me no matter what, and he would want his
mother taken care of.''

Ritch acknowledged that Harris-Lewis paid off the mortgages of the
houses Lewis bought for Ritch and his sister but said it was also ``for
image,'' happening just before the start of the first trial.

``She paid my house off and she paid my daughter's house off but that
was a front, too,'' Ritch said.

Ritch said she sends cards and letters to her two grandchildren, Reggie
Jr., 7, and Reggiena, 6, who was born after her father died.

``I'm hopeful Donna reads them to them,'' she said.

Ritch said she last saw Harris-Lewis and the children when they came to
Baltimore for the annual turkey giveaway at Christmas, similar to the
one Lewis started in Boston for Thanksgiving. Ritch, who acknowledged
her relationship with Harris-Lewis ``is over,'' became emotional when
she recalled seeing the children.

``That little girl, she has a lot of spirit,'' said Ritch. ``(Reggie
Jr.) is just like his father, real quiet and smart.''

Ritch said there are no monuments or parks in memory of her son in his
native Baltimore because Harris-Lewis, who owns the rights to his name,
has refused to allow it. But Ritch said Lewis will be enshrined later
this summer when a life-sized figure is completed and placed in a
Baltimore museum called ``Great Blacks in Wax.'' 

Ritch said the wax statue will show Lewis wearing his Celtics' uniform.

Lewis' death came just weeks after Ritch was released from a drug
rehabilitation center where she finally shook her addiction. She has
been clean seven years.

``Reggie didn't get to see me clean,'' said Ritch, who also has a heart
problem. ``I was coming out of rehab and getting my life back together.
I live with that in my heart. I felt like a failure, that I disappointed
him. My biggest regret is he didn't get to see the change in me.''