Lauder Gives $131M to Whitney

Art aficionado and chair of the Estée Lauder Companies Leonard A. Lauder has gifted $131 million to the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan. The gift is reportedly the largest donation in the 77-year old institution’s history. Lauder’s gift was made in the hopes that it would also inspire other donors to help retain the museum’s Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue at 75th Street, which could be in jeopardy if the Whitney opens a new location. Lauder joined Estée Lauder in 1958.