Estee Lauder is known as a trailblazer for women in business and was the only female listed on Time magazine’s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. Born to Hungarian-Jewish immigrants, Lauder knew the value of a powerful marketing story, but her claims of her descent from aristocracy were largely discredited in the 1980s. She began by selling her Super Rich All-Purpose Cream to friends, but her flawless skin soon grabbed the attention of a local salon owner, and the Estee Lauder brand had its first customer. Today, her grandson William P. Lauder remains Chairman of the company she began in 1946 and has an estimated personal wealth of USD$2.8 billion, according to Forbes. His is the third generation to be directly involved in managing the beauty empire, and it is the son of Leonard Lauder, Estee’s son, who also ran the company as CEO and Chairman for 17 years. His own personal wealth is estimated at USD$18.8 billion, also according to Forbes. He stepped down as CEO in 1999 after a period of massive success, but at 86 remains involved in the company as Chairman Emeritus and sometimes as “Chief Teaching Officer”. The family is also heavily involved in philanthropy and, along with his brother Ronald, Leonard still chairs the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, which funds a $USD30 million research initiative into Alzheimer’s.
