Leonard A. Lauder, the businessman who helped transform the Estée Lauder Companies from a family-run beauty brand into one of the world’s largest cosmetics empires, died on Saturday at his home in New York. He was 92.
The company announced his passing in a statement, noting he was surrounded by family. His son, William P. Lauder, who serves as the company’s executive chairman, described him as a pioneer whose work shaped the modern beauty industry.
Born in Manhattan in 1933, Lauder was the eldest son of Estée and Joseph Lauder, who founded the company in 1946. He formally joined the business in 1958 after serving as a US Navy lieutenant and earning a business degree from the Wharton School. At the time, the company had annual sales under $1 million.
Leonard Lauder played a pivotal role in the company’s expansion. Under his leadership, Estée Lauder entered international markets, launched a dedicated research and development laboratory, and acquired a portfolio of now-iconic brands, including Clinique, Bobbi Brown, MAC, La Mer, and The Ordinary. He became president in 1972, CEO in 1982, and took the company public in 1995. Shares rose 33% on their first day of trading. By the end of 2024, the company had a market capitalization of over $24 billion and operated in 150 countries.
He stepped down as CEO in 1999 but remained active in the business, serving as chairman emeritus until his death.
Aside from his business achievements, Lauder was known for his philanthropy and contributions to the arts. In 2013, he donated a collection of nearly 80 Cubist artworks—valued at over $1 billion—to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the most significant gifts in the institution’s history. He also supported the Whitney Museum of American Art, donating both artworks and funding, including a record $131 million in 2008.
Lauder was deeply involved in healthcare causes, particularly cancer and Alzheimer’s research. He helped establish the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering and co-founded the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation with his brother, Ronald Lauder. He also served on the board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania.
Known for his personal warmth and handwritten notes, Lauder was described by colleagues and celebrities as generous and driven. Actress Elizabeth Hurley, who worked with the brand early in her career, said on Instagram:
“I called him my American Daddy and I can’t imagine a world without him.”
Despite his wealth—estimated at $15.6 billion—he was famously frugal, once telling The New York Times:
“I use slivers of soap, I reuse paper clips… You can take the child out of the Depression, but you can’t take the Depression out of the child.”
Leonard Lauder is survived by his wife, Judith Glickman Lauder, his sons William and Gary, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and his brother Ronald.
With input from BBC, CNN, the New York Times.
