Leonard Alan Lauder, a longtime Palm Beach resident who for nearly two decades led the internationally renowned cosmetics company his parents founded, died June 14 at age 92.
Mr. Lauder died surrounded by family, The Estée Lauder Cos. said in a news release on June 15. It did not say where Mr. Lauder died.
Mr. Lauder worked throughout his life to transform the beauty industry and pioneer new trends and best practices that have become the foundation of today’s beauty industry, his son, fellow Palm Beach resident William P. Lauder, said in the news release. William Lauder is the current chair of the Estée Lauder board.
“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 Lauder said. “Above all, my father was a man who practiced kindness with everyone he met. His impact was enormous.”
Besides his son, survivors include Mr. Lauder’s wife, Judy Glickman Lauder; son, Gary and wife, Laura; grandchildren Rachel, Danielle, Djuna-Bear, Joshua and Eliana; two great-grandchildren; many stepchildren and step-grandchildren; as well as his brother, Ronald S. Lauder, and wife, Jo Carole Lauder, and their daughters, Aerin Lauder and Jane Lauder.
Mr. Lauder co-founded and was co-director of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, which he launched in 1998 with his brother, fellow Palm Beach resident Ronald Lauder, and Dr. Howard Fillit, who is chief science officer of the foundation.
The cause was especially personal to the brothers: Their mother and the company’s namesake, Estée Lauder, had Alzheimer’s, and they saw an “urgent need for treatments and created a bold new venture philanthropy model” to help drive research, the foundation said in a news release.
“Leonard Lauder was a once-in-a-generation visionary whose leadership, along with his brother Ronald, reshaped the Alzheimer’s research landscape,” Fillit said. “From the very beginning, Leonard understood that Alzheimer’s does not just impact the patient, it affects entire families. The Lauder family recognized the emotional, financial, and societal toll of this disease, and built the ADDF to accelerate the discovery and development of treatments that could change the trajectory for patients and their loved ones.”
The ADDF hosts major events in and near Palm Beach, including an inaugural summit that took place earlier this year in West Palm Beach, and the organization’s seventh annual dinner raised $1.5 million last year for Alzheimer’s research.
Research driven by the ADDF “is changing the course of this disease and getting us closer to making Alzheimer’s a thing of the past,” Mr. Lauder told the Daily News last year.
Mr. Lauder also played a significant role in the growth of the Palm Beach-born Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which his first wife Evelyn founded in 1993 with Dr. Larry Norton. Evelyn Lauder died in 2011 at age 75, after which Mr. Lauder remained deeply involved. He was chairman emeritus of the foundation’s board at the time of his death.
“Our hearts are heavy with the loss of Leonard, but we are profoundly grateful for the gift of his friendship, his wisdom, and his extraordinary generosity of spirit,” Donna McKay, BCRF president and chief executive, said in a news release. “Leonard brought not only his leadership and vision to BCRF, but a deep personal compassion that touched everyone who knew him. His unwavering dedication to our mission was driven by a true desire to make the world better for others. We will honor his legacy by carrying forward the lifesaving work he cared for so deeply, always guided by the example of kindness, integrity, and grace he showed us every day.”
The foundation went from funding eight scientists at its founding, to today providing money for research by 260 scientists in 16 countries, the BCRF said. The foundation is the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world, and breast cancer deaths have dropped 44% since 1993, when the BCRF was founded, the organization said.
“Leonard taught me so many things but one that has served me time again is that every relationship is important. He valued every donor and every detail,” Kinga Lampert, BCRF board member and co-chair, said in the news release. Noting that Mr. Lauder and Evelyn Lauder were her “northern lights,” Lampert said the loss is immense: “I will miss his sharp intellect and warm smile every day.”
Mr. Lauder was the son of Estée and Joseph Lauder, who founded their powerhouse cosmetics line in 1946 in New York City. It was there that Mr. Lauder was born on March 19, 1933. Estée and Joseph Lauder first settled part-time in Palm Beach in the 1950s.
Mr. Lauder’s Palm Beach home previously belonged to his mother: a landmarked oceanfront estate at the corner of Barton Avenue and South Ocean Boulevard. He lived next door to his brother Ronald, whose estate is also on the oceanfront just south of The Breakers Palm Beach.
“Leonard was a wonderful brother and a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, colleague and friend,” Ronald Lauder, chairman of Clinique Laboratories, said in The Estée Lauder Cos. news release. “But his legacy extends far beyond being the heart of our family. His impact will be felt for generations to come thanks to his tireless philanthropy, advocacy and creativity in tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges. The number of lives he touched and positively impacted across all his endeavors is immeasurable. His passion and generosity have inspired us all, and there are no words to express how much he will be missed.”
Mr. Lauder graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 and the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School, and he studied at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He also served in the Navy as a lieutenant and reservist. The U.S. Navy Supply Corps Foundation later gave Mr. Lauder its Distinguished Alumni Award.
In 1958, Mr. Lauder joined his parents’ company. There he was president from 1971 to 1995 and chief executive from 1982 to 1999, when he became chairman emeritus. Mr. Lauder helped to “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,” the company said in its news release.
Mr. Lauder was an inspiration and champion to employees of The Estée Lauder Cos., and an icon and pioneer to the beauty industry, Stéphane de La Faverie, Estée Lauder president and CEO, said in the news release.
“His energy and vision helped shape our company and will continue to do so for generations to come,” de La Faverie said. “He was a deeply compassionate leader who cared profoundly about every person in the company. I feel privileged to have worked with Leonard, who has been the best mentor I could have dreamt to learn from. He will be remembered by all of us.”
Mr. Lauder led the launch of now-familiar cosmetic brands such as Aramis, Clinique, and Lab Series, and was involved in the acquisition of other brands including Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone London, La Mer and M∙A∙C.
In 2015, Mr. Lauder married Judy Glickman Lauder. “Mr. Lauder considered himself lucky in love and believed that lightning really could strike twice,” The Estée Lauder Cos. said in its news release.
In 2020, Mr. Lauder published his memoir, “The Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty,” about his experiences in life and business.
He was a noted philanthropist in art and medicine, pledging his 78-piece collection of Cubist art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2013. He also established the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art at the Museum. He was a trustee of the Whitney Museum of Modern Art from 1977 to 2011, and also its chairman emeritus. Locally, he contributed to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach.
“The world has lost a dear friend and visionary leader, Leonard Lauder,” Karen Hale, Breast Cancer Research Foundation board co-chair, said in a news release. “Leonard’s extraordinary commitment to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation was not just generous — it was deeply personal and profoundly transformational. He believed in science, in progress and in people. His passion, his integrity, and his relentless optimism shaped BCRF into the force for hope and discovery that it is today. I will miss him dearly — as a mentor, a partner in purpose and a true friend. We carry forward his legacy with gratitude and resolve.”
In Palm Beach, Mr. Lauder was a familiar face in philanthropic circles. He contributed to and helped organize events to benefit organizations such as The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Cox Science Center & Aquarium in West Palm Beach, Hope For Depression Research Foundation and amfAR.
He was a major donor to the Cox Science Center’s expansion campaign, donating $5 million in 2023 to support the new coral reefs exhibit.
“When I was a young boy, I went to museums after school,” Mr. Lauder told the Daily News at the time. “Stepping into a museum was like entering another world, and I just loved it. I learned so much about art and history from those afternoons. When I look at the creative ways the Cox Science Center engages young people, I’m absolutely thrilled.”
After seeing the work done by frontline nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Lauder in 2022 made a record-setting $125 million donation to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing to create the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program. The program was designed to recruit students from underrepresented communities to study nursing at Penn.
“Like others, I saw the fault lines emerge in our health care system during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lauder said in a release issued by the University of Pennsylvania at the time. “I saw economically marginalized rural and urban areas suffering from a lack of accessible and consistent primary care … and I wanted to take action now. Now more than ever, the country needs greater and more equitable access to quality primary care — and highly skilled nurse practitioners are the key to making that happen.”
Mr. Lauder was one of the wealthiest people in the world, with an estimated worth in the 2025 Forbes list of billionaires at $10.1 billion. He was a longtime member of the Coconuts, a group of prominent Palm Beachers who for the past century have thrown an elaborate black tie New Year’s gala.
A private service will be held for friends and family. Memorial donations may be made to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. The Estée Lauder Cos. launched a website for people to share condolences: elcompanies.com/en/condolences.
Palm Beach Daily News columnist Shannon Donnelly contributed to this report.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Longtime Palm Beacher and cosmetics giant Leonard Lauder dies at age 92
Reporting by Kristina Webb and Greg Stepanich, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
