Who is Lew Parker?

Lew Parker is the owner of WillowCroft and has owned the land for WillowCroft since October 4th, 1979. He bought WillowCroft because his young daughters had joined 4H, a youth devolvement organization still active today, and had developed an interest in raising farm animals. The farm had gotten the name “WillowCroft” because of the two willow trees near the residence.

Lew Parker was a successful financial officer before growing wine at WillowCroft, having worked for many different countries. He worked for the large oil and gas business, AMAX, from 1965 to 1974. At AMAX, he served as the assistant to the Chairman of the Board. He also worked as an internal auditor and as the subsidiary of the Vice President of the company. Between 1970 and 1974, he was the Vice President of Reblic Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of AMAX. After Lew Parker moved from AMAX, he started working as the Vice President of Finance and Administration for American Instrument Company, where he worked from 1974-1976.

This background in finance allowed Lew Parker to successfully set up and run his business and gave him the resources he needed to find out if growing grapevines would be successful in Virginia.