NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The wife and business partner of the chairman of the Estee Lauder cosmetics firm, Evelyn Lauder, died in New York of ovarian cancer. She was 75.
The former senior corporate vice president and head of fragrance development at the company founded by her mother-in-law was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, eight years after being treated for breast cancer, The New York Times reported Sunday.
A company spokesman said she died at her Manhattan home Saturday.
She married Leonard Lauder in 1959. She told reporters over the years her strong-headed mother-in-law, Estee, was "like a steamroller" in the relationship, going so far as to rearrange the couple's furniture while they were out.
After her diagnosis of breast cancer, Lauder became an advocate for research and prevention. In 1993, she founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and was one of the creators of the Pink Ribbon awareness campaign. Her foundation has raised more than $350 million for breast cancer research, the Times said.
She was born Evelyn Hausner on Aug. 12, 1936, in Vienna. In the run-up to World War II, her parents, Ernest and Mimi Hausner, moved the family to Belgium, England and eventually New York in 1940.
Lauder is survived by her husband, two sons and five grandchildren.
