Remembering Leonard Lauder
The former Estée Lauder CEO and Chairman passed away over the weekend. He was 92 years old.
Last Saturday, the fashion world lost one of its giants. Leonard Lauder, the son of Estée Lauder, died at the age of 92. He was responsible for taking the company his parents created public and building it into an empire recognized around the world. He’s been revered as one of the greatest leaders in the industry, which isn’t a surprise once you hear about his accomplishments, his drive, and his love for people.
Leonard’s father owned a successful silk importing business but he was forced to shut the company down because of the Great Depression. A few years later, Leonard was born into poverty and he and his family struggled for quite some time. When he was old enough, he managed to make 50 cents a day by working a paper route. He eventually made his way to UPenn for college and graduated third in his class. While his aspirations drove him to apply for Harvard Business School, the admissions team rejected him. Instead of giving it another go he decided to enlist in the Navy and has been quoted several times saying it was one of the best things that could’ve ever happened to him. It gave him a completely different outlook on leadership that served him well for the decades he worked in the family business. Fun fact - Leonard’s mom’s full name was actually Josephine Esther Lauder. Her nickname was “Esty” but they changed it to Estée as they created the company and named it after her. Leonard notes that one of his biggest motivations in life was to try and make his mother famous and attributes this goal as one of the reasons that they were so successful.
Fragrances
Karen Curry was with Estée Lauder for 37 years prior to her retirement in 2018. For years she led the fragrance department and worked side by side with Leonard. While some of their discussions became tense, he always put his full trust in her and if there was a fragrance she was passionate about, he never stopped her from releasing it (and they were usually a success). He also helped to create fragrance sampling as a marketing motion. While other brands thought they were giving away too much product for free, he championed this effort. He understood before most that if you’re able to give customers just a small taste of a product at no cost to them, you’ll make that money back and so much more. Eventually they would go on to acquire some of the hottest brands fragrance brands like Le Labo and Jo Malone.
Cosmetics
Leonard had an incredible ability to see opportunity in ways no one else could. He chose not to carry their products in drugstores because they wanted to operate in the luxury category, but that wasn’t the sole reason. Leonard knew that if these products were in a department store and they could prove positive growth year over year, each store would make them a priority. Having their products spread across too many channels and outlets would spread them too thin if they were aiming for concentrated growth in select retailers. If the department store grew by a certain percentage, he would always push for his own company to show higher numbers within that store. This led them to have more sway into product placement and various activations over the years.
Philanthropy
Plenty of wealthy people have been generous with their money, but Leonard Lauder is probably near the top of any list you might think of when it comes to philanthropy. He was known for collecting rare art and not only donating pieces to various museums, but also helping to fund their exhibitions. “I don’t buy things to posses them. I buy things to give them away.1” He was also very passionate about improving medical research. His mother passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2004, and he vowed that in his lifetime he would help find a cure. Though this goal never came to fruition, he co-found the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and led it as the co-chairman. Under his leadership, the foundation was able to invest more than $370 million into over 765 drug discovery programs across 21 countries, catalyze more than $3 billion in follow-on funding from pharmaceutical companies, venture capital firms, and government agencies, and establish the Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) in partnership with Bill Gates and other visionary philanthropists.2 He also served as the Honorary Chairman of the Board at the Breast Cancer Research foundation, which his late wife founded in 1993.
People will remember Leonard’s business legacy as well as his personal one. A man that deeply cared for everyone and gave as much as he could. In his book titled The Company I Keep: My Life in Beauty, he outlines some of his life lessons, including always have a woman in the room when making an important decision, and hire people who are smarter than you. We tip our hats to you, Leonard, and everything you did while you were here with us.
The David Rubenstein Show: Leonard Lauder
ADDF Website; Statement from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation on the Passing of ADDF Co-Founder and Co-Chairman Leonard A. Lauder
Great article and Leonard lived an amazing life