Billionaire cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder — who played a key role in transforming his parents’ Estee Lauder brand into a global phenomenon — has died at age 92.
The company Sunday announced the death of its former CEO and chairman emeritus, a Manhattan native who was also renowned for his contributions to New York City’s arts.
“Throughout his life, my father worked tirelessly to build and transform the beauty industry, pioneering many of the innovations, trends, and best practices that are foundational to the industry today,” said his son William, executive chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies, in a press release.
“He was the most charitable man I have ever known, believing that art and education belonged to everyone, and championing the fight against diseases such as Alzheimer’s and breast cancer,” William said.
“Above all, my father was a man who practiced kindness with everyone he met.”
Leonard, the Jewish son of company founders Estee and Joseph Lauder, was born and raised on the Upper West Side and spent six decades at the firm, launching a number of its top brands, including Clinique, Lab Series and Aramis.
He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School before serving as a lieutenant in the Navy.
When he joined the family firm in 1958, it was just a handful of products sold under a single brand in US stores.
Today, Estee Lauder, worth $15.6 billion, is the third biggest cosmetics company in the world, after French giant L’Oreal and the British-Dutch firm Unilever, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
Leonard was worth an estimated $9.7 billion at the time of his death, according to Forbes.
In 1995, he took the company public, after announcing that he wanted it to be “the preeminent supplier of upmarket cosmetics in the world,” Women’s Wear reported.
But despite astonishing financial success, Leonard insisted that money wasn’t his biggest motivator.
“Money doesn’t drive me. What drives me is to see that this great company continues its inexorable march to becoming the greatest company in the world. Not the largest, but the greatest,” he told one interviewer.
Leonard only stepped down from the company board in August 2023, at the age of 90.
He was a source of inspiration to many in the world of fashion, including legendary designer Ralph Lauren.
“Leonard’s life and mine have intersected for so many years, and during that time I have called on him many times for advice,” the designer said in 2018.
“He was always there for me. He is a man of honor, a man of integrity, a man of great energy and passion, and what I’ve really learned and respected was his love and support of his family,” Lauren said.
Outside of work, Leonard was known for his love of the arts.
In 2013, he donated his world-renowned collection of Cubist artworks to the Met. The collection featured 81 works by artists Pablo Picasso, George Braque, Juan Gris and Fernand Leger and helped create a new wing of the museum.
“I wanted to transform the Met,” he said of the opening of the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center of Modern Art, adding that his generosity was motivated by “my love of art and my love of New York.”
He was also involved in funding another of New York’s great art institutions: the Whitney Museum of Modern American Art.
Leonard joined the museum’s acquisition board in 1971, becoming a trustee, then president in 1977 and finally chairman in 1994.
In addition, he gifted the museum $131 million, at the time the largest endowment in its history.
Leonard was married to Evelyn Lauder, an Austrian-American businesswoman and socialite, from 1959 until her death in 2011.
In 2015, he married photographer Judy Glickman.
He is survived by his second wife and his two sons, William and Gary, who is the managing director of Lauder Partners LLC.
“His impact was enormous,” William added in his statement. “He believed that employees were the heart and soul of our company, and they adored him and moments spent with him.
“His warmth and thoughtfulness made an imprint on our company, the industry, and, of course, our family. Together with my family, The Estée Lauder Companies, and the countless people he touched, we celebrate his extraordinary life,” he said.
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