Leonard Lauder

Leonard Alan Lauder (March 19, 1933 – June 14, 2025) was an American billionaire, philanthropist and art collector. Together, he and his brother, Ronald Lauder, were the sole heirs to the Estée Lauder Companies cosmetics fortune, founded in 1946 by their parents, Estée and Joseph Lauder. Having been its CEO until 1999, Leonard was the chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Companies. During his tenure as the CEO, the company went public at the New York Stock Exchange in 1996 and acquired several major cosmetics brands, including MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, and La Mer. In 2013, Lauder promised his collection of Cubist art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The collection is valued at over $1 billion and constitutes one of the largest gifts in the museum's history. At the time of his death, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$9.7 billion.