Harold Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1947, a grandson of Barbadian immigrants.  He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from McGill University and worked as a social worker for several years before returning to Yale Divinity School to earn a Master of Divinity.  He was ordained in 1971 and ministered to parishes in England, Washington, D.C., New Haven, Connecticut, and Brooklyn, New York. Lewis also served as a missionary in Honduras and Zaire. From 1996 until his retirement in 2012, he served as rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Lewis was particularly active in education and advocacy.  He served as headmaster of St. Mark’s School in Brooklyn and was an adjunct professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He also taught at the George Mercer School of Theology, New York Theological Seminary, and General Theological Seminary.  In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lewis served on the boards of the Urban League and the Metro-Urban Institute of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. In the national arena, he was a member of the Episcopal Church Foundations Fellows' Forum and the board of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. By appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury, he chaired and served on the Advisory Council for the Anglican Observer to the United Nations.

Lewis was an active chronicler of the Black struggle in The Episcopal Church and participated on numerous church and seminary boards, including the Office of Black Ministries as director from 1983 to 1994. In addition, he served on the Standing Commission on World Mission of The Episcopal Church, where he advocated to have Black missionaries recognized and celebrated alongside white missionaries.  Lewis’s many publications include Yet With a Steady Beat: the African American Struggle for Recognition in the Episcopal Church; Christian Social Witness; Elijah's Mantle: Pilgrimage, Politics and Proclamation; and The Recent Unpleasantness, which documented his leadership resistance to Bishop Robert Duncan's efforts to withdraw the Diocese of Pittsburgh from The Episcopal Church in 2008. He contributed chapters for numerous books as well as articles and poetry for a variety of publications.