Winston E. Willis

Who is Winston E. Willis?

Winston Earl Willis is a formerly successful American real estate developer who first came to local prominence in Cleveland, Ohio during the early 1960s. At the time, one of the most successful business owner/operators in the country, he created and controlled a corporation, University Circle Properties Development, Inc. that owned one of the most strategic and valuable real estate parcels in Cleveland and was the largest employer of blacks in that part of the country. Under his solely-owned UCPD corporation at East 105th and Euclid, upwards of 23 successful businesses were running simultaneously and exhibiting tremendous success. Frequently referred to as “The Black Rockefeller” and “The Black Howard Hughes”, Willis was the first African-American to appear in a front page headline story of the city’s largest newspaper, that was not political or crime related. But his prolific business prowess and radical outspokenness clashed with the city’s politically powerful entities and hierarchical organization and set into motion an enmity that would lead to his eventual economic destruction. His ongoing legal battles with the city of Cleveland over ownership of his lands spans several decades, including his 2007 Petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, and continues to this day. Often described as "unique to the annals of American economic history", Willis’ place among notable Cleveland entrepreneurs has been greatly obscured by years of animosity and discord with city officials. He is one of several largely forgotten figures from the turbulent bygone era, an environment created by the explosive racial politics of America during the ’60s.