TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., the nation’s...

TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., the nation’s biggest minority-owned company, said Loida Nicolas Lewis, widow of founder Reginald F. Lewis, will become chairman Feb. 1.

Lewis will replace Jean Fugett Jr., the current chairman and chief executive and a half-brother of Reginald Lewis.

The company said it has started a search for a new CEO.

New York-based Beatrice is a multinational food company with operations principally in Western Europe.

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Leo C. Wolinsky has been named metropolitan editor of the Los Angeles Times. He will be responsible for directing full-run coverage of news in Los Angeles County and throughout California and Nevada.

Wolinsky, 44, has been city editor since August, 1991. During his tenure, The Times’ staff won a Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of the riots that followed the Rodney King beating trial verdict.

Wolinsky joined The Times in 1977 as a reporter and has served as assistant bureau chief in Sacramento.

He reports to Carol Stogsdill, senior editor.