Estée Lauder, Last Independent Titan of Cosmetics, Dies at 97 By RICHARD SEVERO
Estée Lauder, the last independent titan of the cosmetics industry who convinced generations of women that her beauty creams were "jars of hope" in their quest for the eternal look of youth, died Saturday at her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Her family said she was 97.
The cause was cardiopulmonary arrest, said her son Leonard A. Lauder.
"The pursuit of beauty is honorable," Mrs. Lauder used to say. And she clearly believed that the business of beauty was just as honorable. No one but a believer could have given so much of herself in becoming an internationally respected strategist in the age-old struggle against the wrinkles, sags, bags and blemishes that women abhor and that men would apparently prefer not to see. Her weapons in that effort were creams, powders, ointments, potions and muds, many containing top-secret emollients. And if they didn't do the trick, she had an array of scents, equally secret in their constitution, that might befog man's vision of woman aging.
Her efforts resulted in the establishment of a privately held company estimated to be worth more than $2 billion when it went public in 1995. In 2003, it had 21,500 employees and sales of $5.12 billion. Its products are sold in more than 130 countries across five continents.
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