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Leonard A. Lauder, the longtime Estée Lauder executive who helped turn his mother’s beauty business into a global empire — and who left an indelible mark on New York City’s cultural institutions — died on Saturday at his home on the Upper East Side. He was 92.
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His death was announced by The Estée Lauder Companies, where Lauder held leadership roles for decades, including president, CEO, and chairman, before retiring as chairman emeritus.
While Lauder’s name is most closely associated with luxury cosmetics, his impact extended far beyond the beauty industry. On the Upper East Side, he is perhaps best remembered for his transformative philanthropic gifts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In 2013, he donated a major collection of 81 Cubist artworks — including pieces by Picasso, Braque, Gris and Léger — to the Met. The gift, valued at over $1 billion, led to the creation of the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, based at the museum’s Fifth Avenue location.
Lauder and his first wife, Evelyn, also played a key role in the founding of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering, located on East 66th Street. He later served as honorary chairman of the board of directors at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Born in 1933 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Lauder was the elder son of Estée and Joseph Lauder. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and went on to earn a degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Following his service as a naval officer, he joined the family business in 1958, at a time when Estée Lauder’s sales were under $1 million.
Over the next several decades, Lauder helped build the company into a global powerhouse, expanding its reach to international markets, introducing multiple successful brands, and eventually taking the company public in 1995. Today, Estée Lauder operates in over 150 countries and is valued at more than $15 billion.
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In addition to his corporate work, Lauder was deeply involved in the art world. He served for decades on the board of the Whitney Museum of American Art and contributed what was, at the time, the largest financial gift in the institution’s history. He also supported research and treatment efforts in Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.
Lauder was married to Evelyn Lauder until her passing in 2011. In 2015, he married photographer Judith Glickman. He is survived by Glickman, his sons William and Gary, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, his brother Ronald, and several stepchildren and step-grandchildren.
Though raised on the Upper West Side, Lauder spent his later decades living on the Upper East Side, where his influence remains visible in the neighborhood’s cultural and medical institutions.
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