Who

Lauder is the billionaire chairman of the cosmetics company his mother founded, as well as a major patron of the arts.

Backstory

Leonard Lauder grew up in the shadow of his famous mother, cosmetics magnate Estée Lauder (née Josephine Esther Mentzer), who founded the family business in 1946 with a skin cream she concocted in the kitchen sink with help from her chemist uncle. After attending U. Penn and Columbia Business School—and serving in the U.S. Navy—Leonard officially joined the family business in 1958. It was a relatively minor enterprise when he first came aboard—the company was generating just $800,000 a year in sales. Of course, it didn't stay small for long: By the 1970s, Estée Lauder had emerged as one of the nation's largest beauty conglomerates and in 1982 Leonard took over as CEO, guiding it through the launch of numerous new brands (Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins) and acquisitions (MAC, Bobbi Brown, Aveda) while his mother served as the public face of the company.

Leonard stepped down as chief in 1999, handing the reigns to Fred Langhammer while Leonard's son, William, was groomed for the top job. In 2004, William was appointed CEO with Leonard remaining the company's chairman. But following several years of stagnant sales growth—and amid pressure from outside investors for more transparency at the family-controlled company—William announced he would step down as CEO in 2009 and turn over the top job to Fabrizio Freda. At that point, William is expected to take over for his father as Estée Lauder's chairman.

By the numbers

Lauder is worth $3.6 billion, according to Forbes.

Of note

Lauder has used the riches derived from the family cosmetics empire to become one of the most significant players on the contemporary art scene. In addition to possessing a mammoth personal collection, he's been one of the most prolific donors to the Whitney since joining the board in 1977: He's donated works by Rothko, Pollock, Franz Kline, and Claes Oldenburg, and led a campaign to encourage other big benefactors to purchase art at auction and then donate it to the Whitney, which has netted the museum more than a quarter billion dollars in priceless work. Following many millions in donations over the years, in 2008 Lauder announced a gift of $131 million, the single largest contribution in the museum's history. The gift will keep the Whitney in its Marcel Breuer flagship for some time—Lauder made that a condition of his donation—and should ease a problem that has hobbled the institution throughout its history, its under-endowment. For all his largesse, Lauder's tenure as chairman, which lasted from 1994 to May of 2008, wasn't without controversy: His plan to expand the museum's quarters and build a Renzo Piano-designed addition spurred complaints from neighbors and a series of lawsuits. The museum has since made plans to construct a satellite branch on Gansevoort Street.

Board game

Lauder stepped down as chairman of the Whitney in 2008, but he remains a trustee as well as the museum's chairman emeritus. His fellow board members include Ray McGuire, Eric Mindich, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Victor Ganzi, Henry Louis Gates, Steven Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross, and Steve Roth. Lauder previously served on the boards of Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the University of Pennsylvania.

Personal

Leonard met his Austrian-born wife, fellow philanthropist Evelyn Lauder (née Evelyn Hausner), on a blind date; they married in 1959. In addition to William, they have a son named Gary who's a venture capitalist in California and the only member of the family who hasn't worked for Estée Lauder. The Lauders live on East 67th Street and spend vacations at their home in Switzerland.

Family ties

Lauder's younger brother is the equally art-obsessed Ronald Lauder, who oversees the Neue Gallerie and is a former board member of the MoMA. Ronald's daughters—Leonard's nieces—are Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, senior vice president and creative director at Estée Lauder; and Jane Lauder, an SVP at the company.

No joke

He was actually born Leonard Allan Lauter. His parents changed the family name to "Lauder" when he was a baby.