| Leonard Lauder | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leonard Lauder July 3, 1933 |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Jewish[1] |
| Occupation | Chairman Emeritus of Estee Lauder |
| Known for | Cosmetics |
Leonard A. Lauder (born March 19, 1933)[2][3] is chairman emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.[4] He was chief executive until 1999. Today Estée Lauder operates several brands in the cosmetics industry including Estée Lauder, Clinique, MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Bobbi Brown and La Mer. Leonard Lauder gained notoriety in 2001 for creating the Lipstick index, a since discredited economic indicator.
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Leonard Lauder comes from the Lauder family, a prominent American Jewish family of Hungarian and Czechoslovak descent in the cosmetics business; he is the son of Joseph and Estée Lauder, and the older brother of Ronald Lauder. He married Evelyn Hausner in July 1959.[5] They had two sons: William, executive chairman of the Estée Lauder Companies; and Gary, managing director of Lauder Partners LLC.[4]
He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and he also studied at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He formally joined Estée Lauder in 1958.[4]
Leonard Lauder has long been a major benefactor of the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he has been chairman since 1994. He has donated both money and many works of art to the Whitney, and is the museum's most prolific fundraiser. The fifth floor permanent collection galleries are named for him and his wife, Evelyn. In 1998, he told a reporter for the New York Times that his "dream job" was to be the Whitney Museum's director. Most recently Lauder gave $131 million for the Whitney's endowment.
Lauder is a major art collector (he began by buying Art Deco postcards when he was six), but his particular focus, rather than on American artists, is on works by the Cubist masters Picasso, Braque, Gris, and Léger. He also collects Klimt.
Lauder's interest in postcards led him to be acquainted with one of the owners of the Gotham Book Mart, a well-known Manhattan bookstore, and he sought to help the Gotham reestablish its presence in the city when the owner had sold its longtime building and needed a new space. Lauder bought a building at 16 East 46th Street along with a partner, letting the building's storefront space to the Gotham. Later, the Gotham fell behind on rents, eventually resulting in Lauder and his partner to file for eviction. In a much-publicised closure of the renowned bookstore, the city marshall later auctioned the store's inventory, which was bought in a lot by Lauder and his partner to some protest from many other independent book sellers and collectors who were present at the proceedings and hoping to purchase some of the bibliophilic treasures.[6]