Leonard Lauder (r) and Mike Bloomberg|MikeBloomberg|X
Leonard Lauder, eldest son of Estee Lauder and the man behind the company’s global success, died Saturday at age 92.
He joined the family business in 1958 when it was a small beauty company making less than $1 million in sales. He helped turn it into a global brand that now brings in $15 billion annually.
As CEO for 17 years, he expanded the brand into Europe and Asia, introduced it to major US department stores, and partnered with renowned names like MAC, Bobbi Brown, and Aveda.
He took the company public in 1995, and its market cap now stands at $24.3 billion.
A Navy veteran, Lauder was also a passionate art collector, donating a $1 billion collection of Cubist art to the Met in 2013.
He coined the term “Lipstick Index,” which demonstrated how sales of beauty products tend to increase during economic downturns.