Leonard Lauder, philanthropist who globalized family cosmetic business, dies at age 92
Lauder, the oldest son of Estee and Joseph H. Lauder, who founded the company in 1946, formally joined the New York business in 1958. Over more than six decades, Lauder played a key role in transforming the business from a handful of products sold under a single brand in US stores to a multi-brand global giant. He held the title of chairman emeritus at the time of his death. Estee Lauder's products are sold in roughly 150 countries and territories under brand names including Clinique and Aveda, according to the company's latest annual report. The company generated sales of nearly $16 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, the filing said. Estee Lauder went public in 1995, but members of the Lauder family still have about 84 percent of the voting power of common stock, according to the latest annual filing.
Lauder served as president of The Estee Lauder Cos. from 1972 to 1995 and as CEO from 1982 through 1999. He was named chairman in 1995 and served in that role through June 2009. Under his stewardship, Lauder created the company's first research and development laboratory, brought in professional management at every level, and was the impetus behind The Estee Lauder Cos.' international expansion, helping to spearhead the company's sales and profits exponentially, according to the company. 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 such brands as Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone London, and MAC, the company said.
During his years as chairman emeritus, Lauder was closely involved in the business and day-to-day operations and was a constant fixture at its global headquarters in New York and at its stores around the world until the time of his death, the company said. 'Throughout his life, my father worked tirelessly to build and transform the beauty industry, pioneering many of the innovations, trends, and best practices that are foundational to the industry today,' said William P. Lauder, son and chair of the board at The Estee Lauder Companies, in a statement. '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.'
Lauder was a longtime patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in 2013 pledged his 78-piece collection of Cubist art to the museum in the largest single philanthropic gift in the museum's history. He later added five major works to that pledged gift, the company said. 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 program of fellowships, focused exhibitions, and public lectures. He also was the Whitney Museum of American Art's chairman emeritus and a trustee from 1977 to 2011.
Lauder was married to Evelyn H. Lauder, who had been the senior corporate vice president at the cosmetic company and the founder of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, from 1959 until she passed away in 2011. On Jan. 1, 2015, Lauder married Judy Glickman Lauder, a philanthropist and internationally recognized photographer.
Lauder was born in 1933 in New York City. 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 US Navy. Lauder studied at Columbia University's graduate school of business. He served as a lieutenant in the US Navy and as a Navy reservist, for which the US Navy Supply Corps Foundation later recognized him with its Distinguished Alumni Award.
In addition to his wife and son William, Lauder is survived by his other son, Gary M. Lauder, and wife Laura Lauder; five grandchildren; 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Africa's debt crisis demands self-reliant solutions
The much-discussed Jubilee Report, emerging from expert deliberations commissioned by the Vatican, diagnoses the acute debt distress strangling developing economies, particularly in Africa, with commendable clarity. It presents a familiar litany of systemic failures: pro-cyclical capital flows, creditor-friendly legal architectures in New York and London, the inadequacy of debt sustainability analyses, and the perverse incentives perpetuated by international financial institutions. Its prescriptions, including a new heavily indebted poor countries initiative, legal reforms to curb predatory litigation, shifts toward 'growth-oriented austerity,' and massive increases in multilateral financing, echo decades of expert consensus. Yet, a fundamental flaw remains. The report's prescriptions rely on coordinated global goodwill and structural reform that is demonstrably absent in today's fragmented world. For Africa, where public debt has outpaced national economic growth since 2013, and home to 751 million people in countries spending more on servicing external debt than on education or health — waiting for this global consensus is not strategy; it is surrender. The report's morally resonant idealism dangerously underestimates the entrenched hostility to meaningful concessions benefiting African economies and overlooks the imperative for radical, self-reliant solutions. Consider the sheer scale of the crisis versus the proposed global fixes. A total of 54 developing countries now allocate over 10 percent of public revenues merely to interest payments. In Africa, this fiscal hemorrhage directly competes with existential needs: costly climate adaptation for countries contributing minimally to emissions, yet facing devastating impacts, and investment in a youth population projected to reach 35 percent of the global total by 2050. The report rightly condemns the injustice, historical and ongoing, embedded in this dynamic. However, its central remedy, a heavily indebted poor countries initiative, requires unprecedented cooperation from diverse and often adversarial creditor blocs: traditional Paris Club members; newer bilateral lenders such as China; and, crucially, private bondholders who now dominate over 40 percent of low and lower-middle income country external debt. Regardless, historical precedent does not inspire confidence. A predecessor heavily indebted poor countries initiative, while delivering relief, failed to prevent recurrence precisely because it did not alter the fundamental dynamics or the structure of global finance. Why expect a sequel, demanding even greater concessions from powerful financial interests operating within unreformed legal jurisdictions, to succeed now? The Common Framework, hailed as progress, has delivered negligible relief precisely due to creditor discord and obstructionism. Betting Africa's future on such actors suddenly developing a collective conscience is not realism; it is negligence. Additionally, the report's reliance on international financial institutions as engines of reform and finance is equally problematic. It calls for an end to International Monetary Fund bailouts of private creditors; lower surcharges; massive SDR, or Special Drawing Right, reallocations; and transformed multilateral development bank lending models. Yet, the governance structures of these institutions remain frozen in mid-20th-century power dynamics that remain heavily skewed against African representation and influence. For instance, securing a $650 billion SDR allocation during the pandemic proved a herculean task; achieving the regular, larger, and equitably distributed issuances the report envisions, given rising fiscal nationalism and escalating geopolitical rivalries, seems quixotic. Moreover, the notion that these same institutions, historically enforcers of austerity and guardians of creditor interests, can reinvent themselves as champions of unconditional, mission-driven finance for African transformation ignores their institutional DNA and the political constraints imposed by their major shareholders. Meanwhile, the call for MDBs to lend massively in local currencies, while technically sound for reducing exchange rate risk, faces fierce resistance from bond markets and rating agencies wary of currency volatility, effectively limiting its scale without improbable capital increases. Furthermore, the report's focus on grand interventions, from debt buyback funds and global climate funds to international bankruptcy courts, fails to grapple with the toxic geopolitical environment. Historical prejudices framing African governance as inherently corrupt or incapable, combined with rising great power competition, actively work against complex cooperative frameworks perceived as primarily benefiting African countries. Solutions built on African agency, regional cohesion, and financial self-reliance offer a more realistic path out of the debt trap. Hafed Al-Ghwell In addition, resources for global funds are notoriously scarce and fiercely contested; establishing new international legal architectures faces veto points at every turn. The current global context is not merely indifferent to African debt distress; elements within it are actively hostile to solutions requiring hefty financial transfers or perceived concessions of leverage. Waiting for this hostility to abate condemns Africa to prolonged debt traps, draining precious reserves crucial for the continent's 1.4 billion people and, ultimately, global stability. The path forward, therefore, demands a harsh pivot toward solutions Africa controls, minimizing reliance on external mobilization vulnerable to global whims. This is not isolationism but pragmatic self-preservation. It requires, for instance, aggressively developing domestic capital markets. Africa's savings, estimated in the trillions of dollars collectively, are often parked in low-yield advanced economy assets or leave the continent entirely. Redirecting these resources requires efforts to deepen local bond markets, strengthen regulatory frameworks, and incentivize institutional investors to allocate capital locally. Second, the report mentions implementing strategic capital account regulations, but underplays their centrality. African countries must actively deploy tools, from reserve requirements to taxes on short-term inflows and prudential limits on foreign currency exposure, to break the pro-cyclical boom-bust cycle of capital flows. This shields fiscal space and reduces vulnerability to the monetary policy shocks emanating from advanced economies. It is a tool of sovereignty, not retreat. Third, strengthening mechanisms such as the African Monetary Fund and expanding regional swap arrangements is critical for building robust regional financial safety nets. Pooling reserves and establishing regional payment systems, thereby reducing dollar dependency for intra-African trade, can provide vital liquidity during crises without the conditionalities of the IMF. This demands unprecedented political will for regional integration and also offers a tangible buffer against global volatility. Fourth, every new infrastructure project financed in dollars increases future vulnerability. Negotiating harder for local currency loans from remaining bilateral partners and MDBs, even at marginally higher initial rates, is essential. Simultaneously, investing in credible monetary policy frameworks is nonnegotiable to sustain this approach. Lastly, transparency and robust domestic oversight of borrowing, including contingent liabilities from public-private partnerships, are vital to prevent repeating past mistakes. Building domestic technical capacity for sophisticated debt sustainability analyses, independent of existing models often blind to climate vulnerability, strengthens negotiation positions. Ultimately, the diagnoses are accurate — there is no argument there. However, the prescribed medicine is simply a dose the global pharmacy refuses to dispense. Africa's debt crisis, crippling distressed countries and suffocating the futures of 288 million people in extreme poverty, cannot await a global kumbaya moment. The moral imperative remains, but the strategic response must shift. Solutions built on African agency, regional cohesion, and financial self-reliance, however difficult, offer a more realistic, and ultimately, more dignified path out of the debt trap than persistent reliance on a system structurally biased against the continent's development.
Al Arabiya
15 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Breaking: India will buy Russian oil despite Trump's threats: Report
Indian officials have said they would keep purchasing oil from Russia despite the threat of penalties that US President Donald Trump said he would impose, the New York Times reported on Saturday. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Al Arabiya
17 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
US President Trump stakes reputation as dealmaker with tariff policy
Donald Trump is staking his reputation as a tough negotiator and slick dealmaker -- that has served him well throughout his life -- with his ultra-muscular, protectionist tariffs policy. On Friday, the White House released a picture of the US president seen with a smartphone pressed to his ear, with the caption: 'Making calls. Making deals. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' Every trade deal announced by the president, who is convinced that tariffs are both a tool and manifestation of America's economic might, is celebrated by his supporters as a show of his negotiating prowess. This week's flurry of rate changes was no different. On Thursday, with the stroke of a black marker, the former real estate developer slapped fresh tariffs on dozens of US trade partners. They will kick in on August 7 instead of August 1, which had previously been touted as a hard deadline. The Republican leader's backtracking, frequently setting trade deadlines only to rescind or extend them -- he most recently granted Mexico a 90-day extension -- has given rise to the mocking acronym 'TACO' ('Trump always chickens out'). The jokes implying Trump is all talk and no action on trade have previously struck a nerve for the president. 'Not chicken' But analysts believe there will be no going back this time. Trump has 'not chickened out,' according to Josh Lipsky, an international economics expert at the Atlantic Council think tank. Lipsky told AFP the president is 'following through, if not exceeding' what he vowed during his campaign in respect to tariffs. Matthew Aks, a public policy analyst at Evercore ISI, said he did not anticipate a 'massive shift' on the latest order, aside from some economies like Taiwan or India striking deals during the seven-day buffer. Following crunch negotiations leading up to the tariffs announcement, Trump struck a series of compromises, notably with the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, setting varying tax rates and touting high investments in the United States. The details of these agreements remain vague and leave the door open to key questions: Are exemptions possible? What will become of key sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors? And what of China? The US president and leaders of other countries 'have reasons to avoid going into detailed agreements' explained Aks, allowing all sides to present the deals in the most positive, or least negative, way possible to their public. The ability to conclude deals -- often with or without crucial detail -- is, for the 79-year-old Republican, an integral part of his political signature. 'Art form' In his book 'The Art of the Deal,' the billionaire wrote: 'Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.' Trump explained in his book that he always 'protects' himself 'by being flexible.' 'I never get too attached to one deal or one approach.' But despite comments about his trade policy reversals, Trump has hardly budged from his trade strategy, and that could prove politically painful. In a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University published in mid-July, only 40 percent of respondents said they supported the president's trade policy, while 56 percent criticized it. The latest employment figures bear the marks of Trump's protectionist offensive, according to experts. Job creation in May and June was revised sharply downward, falling to levels not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic.
