She married Leonard Lauder, Estée Lauder chairman emeritus, son of the company founder and namesake, in 1959, and went on to have two sons, William, who is an executive chairman with the company, and Gary, who is managing director of Lauder Partners.
Evelyn Lauder had held several key executive posts within the company, including the position of senior corporate vice president and head of fragrance development worldwide, but had also been an advocate and founder of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Credited with helping to found the Clinique brand
Amongst her significant credits is the role she played in founding the Clinique brand, including giving it its name back in 1968, together with the influence she had on the company’s development of innovative skin care, make-up and fragrance products.
In particular she lent much to the development of new fragrances at the company for many years, and was behind the launch of many of the company’s leading fragrance brands, including Beautiful and Pleasures.
“She was one of the pivotal architects of our vision, values and culture,” said Fabrizio Freda, company CEO and president. “She was dynamic, creative, smart, endearingly warm, generous, and incredibly gifted at connecting with people. Her enthusiasm was contagious.”
Training, new product direction and marketing
Evelyn Lauder joined the company in 1959 and drew on her teaching background to set up the creation of some of the company’s first training programs, before moving on to other roles that included new product direction and marketing director.
Other contributions to the company included measuring color standards in make-up, selling products in stores and making personal appearances to promote products and company strategies.
She was also known for her philanthropic efforts, particularly for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she is credited as being the co-creator of the pink ribbon, which is now recognized worldwide as a symbol to help educate and fight breast cancer, helping make it one of the most successful charitable institutions in the world.