Leonard A. Lauder touched and defined myriad worlds, from beauty to art and retail to medicine.
One of his most noticeable skills, even months after his death in June, was his ability to draw a crowd.
So it was fitting that north of 1,300 people arrived at Lincoln Center Monday night for a celebration of Lauder’s life and legacy. The crowd was as diversified — and powerful — as his interests as a host of executives from the company he powered joined designers, including Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg and Vera Wang; art world heavyweights like the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Max Hollein; actress Candice Bergen; socialites and philanthropists Julia Koch, Marie-Josée Kravis, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch; and many more.
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The through line was that, despite the behemoth status he garnered, Lauder touched each of them in singular ways.
“He was the most gracious man in New York City,” said Bergen.
Kors recalled running into Lauder 20 years ago in Hawaii at Thanksgiving. He laughed remembering how Lauder had suggested the duo surprise guests in stores on Black Friday.
“The last time that we saw Leonard was here at Lincoln Center. He was sitting behind us, and he was just a force of nature. He wasn’t feeling great, but he was here and curious and wanted to see something beautiful. He loved people,” Kors said. “He loved art. He loved theater. He loved music. He was one of a kind, a force of nature.”
David Lauren, chief branding and innovation officer at Ralph Lauren Corp., recalled a visit he once made to Lauder’s home in which the beauty giant was “so incredibly kind and gracious. He toured me around in the warmest way, and I left feeling like he was my uncle.”
Looking even further back, Diane von Furstenberg said: “My memories are with Estée, his mother. She was very kind to me when I first came to New York. Then, I met Leonard and Ronald and the kids. Both sons honor what their mother believed in: the beauty of women. At the end, you are the children you have, and I think both sons reflect what their mother had.”
More recently, Burch described several accounts, remembering “the hours that we would spend in my office, [with him] telling me the most amazing business advice I’ve ever gotten from anyone in the world.”
His sense of humor stuck out to Wang, who said: “One of my favorite memories is that I came one year to BCRF, which I come for every year. One time I was in entirely black, like today. And he said, ‘Where’s that splash of pink, girl?’”
The Estée Lauder Cos. executives, past and present, also joined in, remembering the way Lauder impacted their professional and personal lives.
Jean-Guillaume Trottier, chief executive officer of Biologique Recherche, said Lauder was a longtime mentor of his. “He taught me the power of ‘no’ — it’s the only way to be able to protect the equity of the brand and not overexpose it,” Trottier said.
“What I loved most about Leonard was just his good heart. He cared so deeply about creating opportunities for others,” said Joyce F. Brown, president of The Fashion Institute of Technology.
Added Robin Burns-McNeill, cofounder of Batallure Beauty and former president of the Estée Lauder brand: “One of my favorite stories about Leonard is when ‘casual Fridays’ was being defined by young people in the corporation, Leonard didn’t quite understand what it meant, because, he told me he slept in a suit and tie. But he was open-minded — he allowed casual Fridays to begin with not having to wear ties if you’re a man.”
The Estée Lauder Cos. CEO Stéphane de La Faverie, who took to the stage during the memorial, said beforehand of Lauder’s leadership style: “He would not tell you what to do, but more so guide you on what needed to be done. He’s been with us every step of the way, and he’s still with us today, guiding us.”
De La Faverie’s chief financial officer, Akhil Shrivastava, described that, “Every time he met you, with his big hands, you felt you merged and immersed. It was a true reflection of his heart.”
The way he empowered women and gave us all so much runway to make a huge difference in life, whether you worked with him or whether he was putting products in the store for you,” was what stuck out to Tara Simon, the company’s president of the Americas.
Associates outside of the company also described him as an empowered and empowering executive.
“One of my favorite memories with Leonard is walking our store in Michigan Avenue and just hearing from the Godfather himself his perspective on not only beauty, but Ulta Beauty and our place, that we could continue to grow together. I had goose bumps the entire time I was there listening to him,” recounted Kecia Steelman, chief executive officer of Ulta Beauty.
On the fragrance front, Givaudan CEO Gilles Andrier said Lauder “had a genuine love of fragrances, and was very caring with the young generation.”
Jo Horgan, founder and CEO of Mecca brands, thought back to her first memory of Lauder: “We were sat at breakfast. I had three stores. He said to me, ‘You will become the third channel of distribution in Australia.’ I thought, ‘He is the kindest man, slightly delusional but very lovely.’ He helped me get there.”
That level of support was echoed by Linda Wells, founding editor in chief of Allure Magazine. “I think he got me my job at Allure, which isn’t necessarily a memory — it’s a huge gratitude,” she said. “We always got in a lot of trouble at Allure, especially in the early days, people canceling advertising. He said, ‘I’m gonna stick with you no matter what.’ And we tried that relationship, and we really stressed that relationship so hard, and he was incredible,” she joked.
“He was the most successful, smartest, down-to-earth business guy in any industry,” said Mickey Drexler. “I loved him.”
The Lauder effect didn’t just span industries, but cities, states and countries. “He was my neighbor in Palm Beach for 30 years — he always wrote the best handwritten notes,” said Julia Koch.
Meanwhile, Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also recalled an early interaction with Lauder. “It was the second day that I came to the Met as director,” Hollein remembered. “He called me and said, ‘I want you to look at this painting.’ So, I went to Sotheby’s. I looked at the painting and I thought he just wanted me to have an opinion. I texted him back that I thought it was a great Picasso, and two hours later, they called and said they’re going to deliver the painting to the Met.”
Willow Bay, former face of Estée Lauder, said her favorite memories of Lauder were simply seeing him with his mother. Next to her, model Karli Kloss, a new face of the brand, recalled her last meeting with him. “I was so fortunate to have lunch with him earlier in the year,” Kloss said. “He was one of the most extraordinary minds, and I learned so much from him even in the short time I got to work with Estée Lauder.”
Longtime fragrance industry veteran Paul Austin wore for the memorial one of the earliest Tom Ford scents he worked on during his time at Givaudan, Pierre Negrin’s 2007 limited-edition Tom Ford Extreme. “It’s only got a few fumes left in the bottle, but I took it out and wore it today in Leonard’s honor.”
The service started with Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” over a montage of photos and videos from Lauder’s life, followed with baritone Sean Michael Plumb’s rendition of “God Bless America.”
First to speak was son William P. Lauder. “My father understood the world through business, and through the many different lenses of the world,” he said. “He was a man of insatiable curiosity, who delighted in travel, in exploring new cultures and ideas, and especially connected with our people all over the world. Getting to do this with him was the greatest education and greatest joy.”
He was followed by brother Gary M. Lauder, who also described his father as a Renaissance man. “This gem of a man had more facets than an intricately carved diamond, and so I could only touch on a few of the many dimensions that shown brightness to me. He was, and still is, my role model and my hero.”
On the business front, former Burberry chief Rose Marie Bravo kicked off a roster that included Mike Gould, Terry Lundgren and Frank Bennack. Bravo concluded her remarks by describing Lauder’s vigor, even in the final weeks of his life.
“Ten days before Leonard passed away, we had lunch at his home, we talked briefly about business. He was looking forward to the future with great optimism,” she said. “All of a sudden, a new smile came over his face, and his eyes lit up, and he said to me, ‘Let’s write a book together!’ When I asked him what we would write about, he replied, ‘How much fun it all was.’”
Gould, who led Bloomingdale’s for years, described an interaction between his son and Lauder and said, “He left us, everyone, feeling the most important person in the world and that he cared about them.”
Lundgren, retail veteran and former CEO of Macy’s Inc., remarked on Lauder’s shrewd business insights, practical advice and said was the one to propose putting the beauty counters in Neiman Marcus near the entrances. “If you move the beauty business to the front door, not only will the beauty business grow dramatically, but your entire store will improve its productivity,” he said Lauder advised him. “This will come as no surprise, but Leonard was right.”
Despite Lauder’s wisdom, Bennack, the former Hearst CEO, described him as having “exhibited a quality of kindness more typically associated with rabbis, sisters of charity or kindergarten teachers rather than business leaders,” he said. “Leonard never exerted the upper hand. He instead, wanted true collaboration, making business a pleasure for every executive, every editor, every ad seller.”
De La Faverie described him as “a visionary in beauty, in art, in philanthropy, and above all in people and family,” adding that “He didn’t just imagine possibilities. He made them real with courage, compassion, discipline, and then this unmistakable spark in his eye.”
In Lauder’s extracurricular life, which spanned art and medical research on diseases including Alzheimer’s and breast cancer, Dr. Adam D. Weinberg started with Lauder’s work with the Whitney Museum of American Art. “His mantra was ‘great museums are defined by great collections, and I am a collection builder,’” Weinberg said. “He donated over 80 Cubist drawings and sculptures to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2013. His passion for American art was boundless, and he helped the Whitney acquire more than 1,300 works, helping to transform the museum into the world-renowned institution.”
Ambassador Amy Gutmann, who served as president of Lauder’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, said: “We just marveled at how he made it his personal mission to help our country live up to its own ideals. No one worked harder than Leonard as a can-do leader and a must-do giver. When Leonard saw inequities, he got involved, and he always led by example.”
Dr. Emily Braun, who co-curated Lauder’s collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, described an enormous Fernand Léger painting being hoisted out of Lauder’s apartment in August. “This painting was the last work of his extraordinary collection to be delivered to its new home,” Braun said. “I’m sure he was smiling now the gift was complete. This was exactly what he wanted, another one of his fantasies come true, another good deed for the public good.”
Describing what it was like to meet Lauder, and brother Ronald Lauder, in 1998, Dr. Howard Fillit outlined founding the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation with the duo. “What started with a desk and a chair has since transformed how the world understands and treats Alzheimer’s disease,” Fillit said. “We’ve invested in groundbreaking science, including the first FDA-approved diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s, a brain scan that detects the disease in its earliest stages, even before, up to 20 years before there are any clinical symptoms and this has enabled prevention.”
Longtime ambassador Elizabeth Hurley, who recently spent 30 years with the company, described her time and travels with Lauder. “He took a whole week of work to come to my wedding in India, and I will never forget the sight of Leonard twirling across the dance floor, turban flying, and then seeing him surrounded by a gaggle of my friends. He was holding court, of course, and they were all fascinated by him and hanging off his every word.”
Following Hurley, company chief brand officer Jane Hertzmark Hudis outlined the organization’s teacher in chief. “What started as a professional relationship grew into a trusted partnership and friendship,” said Hudis, noting that when she moved to the West Coast to work in the field, he “would call me every weekend asking me what I thought of our counters, of course the competition’s, and then he would ask me, ‘Have you found a husband yet?’”
In summation, Hudis said he “assured the legacy of his company through his lessons.”
The final two speakers, wife Judy Glickman Lauder and brother Ronald S. Lauder, also detailed their lives lived with the legend. “John Denver has a wonderful song, ‘Poems, Prayers & Promises,’ in which he sings about how sweet it is to love someone, how bright it is to care. I always felt this applied to us, but it really applied to Leonard himself, who had a love affair with life. The depth and the breadth of his love was extraordinary. I can’t imagine another human being having touched, loved, truly influenced so many lives.”
Ronald Lauder, just before sending attendees off to the tune of “Anchors Aweigh,” a nod to Leonard Lauder’s time in the military, said: “Leonard had an amazing and unusual capacity. He simply loved people. He truly loved them all.
“I really think there were two Leonard Lauders. There was Leonard Lauder the businessman … and the second one was Leonard Lauder not the businessman, but the friend. He never let the two worlds mix, but amazingly, he always had time to talk. Leonard derived a great deal of satisfaction from his success in business, but it was the other part of his life that kept him going through the trenches with everyone in this room and beyond. You all brought him great happiness.”
