Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/85092
SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY building on a legacy CHAMPIONED BY HIS LATE WIFE, EVELYN. BY JANET CARLSON A AS THE ACTING CHAIRMAN OF THE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION, LEONARD A. LAUDER TAKES UP THE CAUSE t The Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium in Palm Beach this past February, Leonard A. 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 H. Lauder 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). She loved to con- nect with women from all walks of life, from Manhattan to the Midwest to Miami. During the Lincoln Center tribute for her, attended by a packed crowd of more than 2,000, New York 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." And since her memorial, that number has increased to more than $380 million. Leonard Lauder is still active as chairman emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies, and a dedicated philanthropist—his on commitments include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, the Council Institute, and the Memorial Evelyn and Leonard Lauder at the 2010 Hot Pink Party: My Sweet 16. Cancer Center, to which The Leonard & Evelyn Lauder Foundation gave $50 million to help build the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center. He decided to take up the cause "because I felt it had to be done. I was present at the creation." Dr. Larry Norton, scientific director of the continued on page 60 58 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM Foreign Relations, The Aspen Sloan-Kettering PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIE SKARRATT