It is with deep sadness that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. announced that Chairman Emeritus Leonard A. Lauder passed away on June 14, at the age of 92, surrounded by family. Mr. Lauder was born in 1933 in New York City, the oldest son of Estée and Joseph H. Lauder, the founders of The Estée Lauder Companies. He was a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, the University of Pennsylvania?s Wharton School, and the Officer Candidate School of the United States Navy.
Mr. Lauder studied at Columbia University?s Graduate School of Business. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and as a Navy reservist, for which the U.S. Navy Supply Corps Foundation later recognized him with its Distinguished Alumni Award. He formally joined Estée Lauder in 1958, and for more than six decades, Mr. Lauder was a visionary and an innovator, helping transform the business from a handful of products sold under a single brand in U.S. stores to the multi-brand, global leader in prestige beauty that it is today.
Mr. Lauder served as President of The Estée Lauder Companies from 1972 to 1995 and as Chief Executive Officer from 1982 through 1999. He was named Chairman in 1995 and served in that role through June 2009. Throughout his tenure at the company, Mr. Lauder consistently challenged the status quo, developing and implementing innovative sales and marketing programs that revolutionized the beauty industry.
He created the company?s first research and development laboratory, brought in professional management at every level, and was the driving force behind The Estée Lauder Companies? international expansion, helping to increase the company?s sales and profits exponentially. A legendary brand builder, Mr. Lauder led the launch of many brands including Aramis, Clinique, and Lab Series, among others.
Until his death, he remained deeply involved in the company?s acquisition strategy, including the acquisitions of Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone London, La Mer, and M·A·C. During his many years as Chairman Emeritus, Mr. Lauder was closely involved in the business and day-to-day operations of the company and was a constant fixture at The Estée Lauder Companies? global headquarters in New York and at stores and counters across the globe until the time of his death. Mr. Lauder believed that each of his colleagues was like a member of his family and treated them as such.
The values that continue to set the company apart are the values he so strongly believed in and embodied, most notably generosity of spirit and kindness toward all. Perhaps the role Mr. Lauder was most proud of was the unofficial one as The Estée Lauder Companies? ?chief teaching officer.?
He believed that a company?s wealth is its people and focused on mentoring and fostering growth within the company?s diverse talent pool. He believed strongly in the importance of recognition and gratitude and was a tireless advocate for employees. At the onset of the global pandemic in 2020, Mr. Lauder was instrumental in setting up the ELC Cares Employee Relief Fund to support the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of employees and their families.
Mr. Lauder was deeply involved in medical research, education, art, foreign policy, and philanthropy, and the marks he made on those worlds were transformational. Mr. Lauder believed passionately in the importance of public access to art and museums, which inspired his philosophy that the primary role of a collector was to conserve, not possess. He was a long-time supporter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) and, in 2013, pledged his 78-piece collection of Cubist art to the museum in the largest single philanthropic gift in the Met?s history.
He later added five major works to that promised gift. In concert with his Cubist collection donation, he helped establish the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at the Met to support a robust program of fellowships, focused exhibitions, and public lectures. Along with his prominent presence at the Met, he also served as the Whitney Museum of American Art?s Chairman Emeritus and a trustee from 1977 to 2011.
Throughout his life, he donated works of art and endowed curatorial positions and research departments to numerous institutions. Mr. Lauder was a long-time advocate of cancer research and served as Honorary Chairman of the board of directors at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the organization his beloved late-wife, Evelyn H. Lauder, founded in 1993. He also championed the fight against Alzheimer?s by co-founding and leading the Alzheimer?s Drug Discovery Foundation with his brother, Ronald S. Lauder, which supports cutting-edge drug research.
Mr. Lauder remained actively engaged with these organizations until his death, and they were extraordinarily dear to his heart.
