The American billionaire Leonard Lauder, according to Forbes, has an estimated net worth of $9.8 billion as of 2015. Lauder obtained his undergraduate degree at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the US Navy, he was a student at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.
Lauder is the son of Estée Lauder, who along with her husband Joseph, founded the internationally renowned cosmetics company Estée Lauder Companies. Leonard Lauder joined the company at the age of 25 in 1958. His wealth has come from this legacy and his position in the company. Prior to 1999, he was the CEO of the conglomerate. He has two sons; William, the executive chairman of the Estée Lauder Companies, and Gary, managing director of Lauder Partners LLC. Today, Lauder holds the position of chairman emeritus. Estée Lauder Companies are in charge of more than the Estée Lauder brand. Some subsidiaries of theirs include MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Clinique, La Mer, and Bobbi Brown.
The creatively minded Leonard Lauder used to have a large private collection of Cubist paintings. Lauder gifted his 78-piece Cubist art collection–33 Picassos, 17 Braques, 14 Grises and 14 Légers–to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in April 2013, and the museum is now building the collection its own wing.