Who

The wife of billionaire cosmetics scion Leonard Lauder, Evelyn is a philanthropist and part of the reason why women pin those pink ribbons to their lapels.

Backstory

Evelyn Hausner was born in Vienna and arrived in the U.S. with her family following World War II. She was 18 when she met Leonard Lauder on a blind date: At the time she was a student at Hunter and working part-time at a branch of Barnes & Noble; Leonard had just finished up in the Navy and started working for his mother, Estée Lauder. The couple married in 1959 and Evelyn initially worked as an elementary school teacher in Harlem before joining the cosmetics company at her mother-in-law's insistence, running employee training courses in the early days. Today she still holds the title of senior vice president at the company—it's her son, William, who serves as CEO—but she's better known for the philanthropic work she's pursued over the years.

Pet cause

Lauder was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989. Following successful treatment from Dr. Larry Norton of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, she founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in 1993. The group has been at the forefront of the disease ever since, raising more than $150 million and dispensing more than 40 million pink ribbons, and she's also been a major benefactor to Sloan-Kettering—her donations in the 1990s funded the creation of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center on East 64th Street. An avid photographer, she's published several books of her work, the proceeds of which go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Her philanthropic work earned her the Legion d'Honneur in 2002.

Personal

Her husband, Leonard, currently serves as chairman of Estée Lauder and the Whitney Museum. They have two sons: William, who has served as CEO of the family cosmetics company since 2004; and Gary, a venture capitalist based in Silicon Valley. Ronald Lauder is her brother-in-law and the father of her two nieces who work for the family business, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer and Jane Lauder. The Lauders live on the Upper East Side and spend vacations at their home in Switzerland.