Leonard Lauder
USA- American businessman Leonard Lauder
- The Lipstick Index
- Early Life and Education
- Philanthropy and Art Collecting
- Supporting Gotham Book Mart
American businessman Leonard Lauder
Leonard Lauder is an American businessman and the honorary chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. He served as the CEO of the family business until 1999. Today, Estée Lauder controls several prominent brands in the cosmetics industry, including Estée Lauder, Clinique, MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, and La Mer.
The Lipstick Index
In 2001, Leonard Lauder introduced the concept of the "lipstick index," an economic indicator that, according to him, signaled a crisis and predicted an economic downturn. Lauder claimed that when lipstick sales increase, women compensate by cutting back on more expensive purchases such as clothing, shoes, and jewelry. However, the lipstick index was later discredited as lipstick sales also observed growth during periods of economic prosperity.
Early Life and Education
Leonard Lauder, the son of Joseph Lauder and Estée Lauder, and the older brother of Ronald Lauder, was born on March 19, 1933. In July 1959, he married Evelyn Hausner, and they have two sons, William Lauder, who would later become the executive chairman of Estée Lauder Companies, and Gary Lauder, who became the managing director of Lauder Partners LLC. Leonard is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and also studied at Columbia University's business school before serving in the U.S. Navy. He officially joined Estée Lauder in 1958 at the age of 25.
Philanthropy and Art Collecting
For many years, Leonard Lauder has been a major benefactor of the Whitney Museum of American Art and served as the chairman of the museum's board since 1994. He has donated both money and art to the museum and gained a reputation as its most successful fundraiser. The museum named a permanent gallery on the fifth floor in honor of Leonard and his wife, Evelyn. In 1998, he told The New York Times that his dream job would be the director of the Whitney Museum. Recently, Lauder pledged $131 million to the museum. Lauder is considered one of the largest contemporary collectors, starting with collecting Art Deco postcards at the age of six. He has a particular interest in the works of cubist masters such as Picasso, Braque, Gris, and Léger, as well as paintings by Klimt. In the fall of 2012, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston organized an exhibition of 700 postcards from his collection called "The Postcard Age: Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection." This exhibition showcased only a small portion of his collection of 120,000 postcards, which he promised to donate to the museum.
Supporting Gotham Book Mart
Leonard Lauder's interest in postcards led him to meet one of the owners of Gotham Book Mart, a famous Manhattan bookstore, and he decided to help the store regain its lost position and restore a cultural center in New York City. The previous owner sold the bookstore's building, and Lauder and his partner purchased house number 16 on East 46th Street and provided it to Gotham Book Mart. Unfortunately, the store later defaulted on rent and ceased to exist. Lauder and his partner bought most of the items at the subsequent auction, causing outrage among other booksellers and collectors who hoped to add bibliophilic treasures to their collections.
