At The Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium in Palm Beach this past February, Leonard Lauder, one of America’s best-known business figures, stepped to the podium and said modestly, “I introduce myself these days as Mr. Evelyn Lauder.” He paused for the bittersweet applause before adding, “because I am absolutely dedicated to my dear wife Evelyn’s dream of curing and preventing breast cancer.”
Three months earlier, in November 2011, Evelyn Lauder, age 75, died at home in New York City of nongenetic ovarian cancer. A woman of many accomplishments, Evelyn, who held the position of senior corporate vice president at Estée Lauder and oversaw fragrance development worldwide, founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) almost two decades ago after a bout with breast cancer, which was successfully treated. During the Lincoln Center tribute for her, attended by a packed crowd of more than 2,000, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “She didn’t just give a speech or write a check—she created a movement, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which has raised more than $350 million for research and given us an iconic symbol, the pink ribbon.”
Leonard Lauder, still active as chairman emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies, is a dedicated philanthropist—his commitments include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, The Aspen Institute, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to which The Leonard & Evelyn Lauder Foundation gave $50 million to help build the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center. He decided to pick up the BCRF baton “because I felt it had to be done. I was present at the creation.” Dr. Larry Norton, scientific director of the BCRF and deputy physician-in-chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, with whom the Lauders have collaborated closely, recalls those early days: “We were at their apartment in New York, sitting around the kitchen table, and that was the start of BCRF. Leonard was right there. Evelyn took the lead—but he was the rock she stood on.”
Even for an accomplished CEO like Lauder, Evelyn’s achievements with BCRF would be a tough act to follow. But Lauder relishes the challenge. While the style of their persuasive skills might have differed, Lauder says, “She was seductive in her way; I’m seductive in my way. [But] we were two peas in a pod.”
The team at BCRF greeted the news of Lauder’s involvement with considerable relief, if not outright joy. Myra Biblowit, president of BCRF, explains, “To have Leonard say, ‘I’m going to step in because I want this organization to continue to flourish and not miss a beat’—that has been an invaluable reassurance about the future of an organization that has lost its founder.”
And who better than Leonard Lauder to grow BCRF? One of America’s most successful CEOs, Lauder took his family’s cosmetic firm to its current status as a multibillion-dollar global behemoth. (It had nearly $9 billion in net sales in the last fiscal year.) In addition to Lauder’s business prowess, there’s his much-vaunted talent for relationship building. “Leonard brings to the table his extraordinary insights about people,” says Dr. Norton. “He understands what makes them tick. That translates into the magic of BCRF. It’s not about science; it’s about people doing science. If you support their enthusiasm and creativity, the projects will come.”
Already Lauder has expanded the BCRF board by bringing in such names as Tory Burch and Ed Brennan, the chairman of DFS Group. He’s also defined a dual agenda for BCRF: “to embrace the new reality of cancer research and expand the fundraising footprint.”
The “new reality” of cancer research is how scientists are coming to see cancer as a genetic disease rather than a disease of the breast, colon, lung, or other organ. “Genetic aberrations are in a sense the hub of the wheel,” says Biblowit. “Ultimately, solutions will have application to all of the spokes.” This interconnectedness is what ensures BCRF’s relevance even in a time when many types of breast cancer are curable or manageable. That Evelyn died of nongenetic ovarian cancer is relevant, too. Lauder offers this hint about the future: “Our main focus will be women’s cancers.”
Biblowit says what stands between disease and a cure today “is not technology or talent, but money. The intellectual capital is in place, the missing link is the financial resources.” Dr. Norton offers some sobering facts—23 percent of American deaths this year will be from cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies indicate that the US spends six times more on soft drinks than all cancer research combined. “If we didn’t have philanthropy, we’d be dead in the water,” says Dr. Norton, “because in order to qualify for federal grants, you need to demonstrate preliminary results—and to do the work to get those results, you need philanthropy.” Eleven years ago, BCRF raised $8.5 million to support 50 researchers around the US. This year the group raised $53 million and is funding more than 190 researchers in 13 countries, according to Biblowit.
No matter how ambitious the goals for BCRF, Lauder, at 79, seems primed to meet them. His schedule hasn’t varied much from when he was running the Lauder companies as CEO. “I get up at 6:30 every day, exercise, then sit down to a business breakfast by 7:30 or get to my office by 8,” he says. His work days are a tightly choreographed sequence of meetings, phone calls, power lunches, and more meetings until 6 or 7 pm. He travels regularly. Recent destinations include Aspen (in July for philanthropy), Prague (a business and “roots” trip), and Vienna (where Evelyn was born). In October he’ll be in Boston for the opening of his antique postcard exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “I’m not bored,” he says. Asked how it feels, this busy life in Evelyn’s absence, he answers in a word: “Lonesome. I’m in the midst of reshaping my own life. It’s not easy after 52 years. When we were married, I was 26. We formed our own life. Now I have to form a new life.” Perhaps immersing himself in Evelyn’s work helps him as much as it helps the foundation.
At the Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium in February, Leonard told the audience: “Each one of you has the seed of greatness within you. Your vote counts; your contribution counts.” Then he elegantly demonstrated the art of putting one’s money where one’s mouth is. During his closing remarks, he announced, “Today, we have raised $495,000. We are $5,000 short. I’ll put the $5,000 in to get to half a million if someone will match me. Come to see me after the—there!” He pointed across the room. “Okay, $500,000. Thank you.”
As for Evelyn Lauder’s hope that a cure for breast cancer will be found within our lifetime, no one knows the future, of course. But to reach that milestone, the money’s on Leonard Lauder and BCRF to get it done.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The BCRF Symposium and Awards Luncheon takes place at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York, on October 30. For more information, visit bcrfcure.org
