Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art Founder

Chairman Emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and the senior member of its Board, Leonard A. Lauder (1933-2025) was also highly involved in art, education, politics and philanthropy. He was Chairman Emeritus of the Whitney Museum of American Art, to which he donated many works of art. A major supporter of the University of Pennsylvania, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Institute and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, he was Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.

In 2013, Mr. Lauder pledged his collection of Cubism to The Met and provided major support to the creation of the Research Center. He was an enthusiastic presence at its events, and a fervent believer in the value of scholarship.