Evelyn Lauder
Evelyn Lauder turned a personal experience with breast cancer into a global awareness campaign. A longtime executive at Estée Lauder Companies, she used her position to bring the condition, which was rarely discussed openly, into the public view.
After being diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 1987, Lauder became an advocate for better care and research. In 1989, she helped establish Memorial Sloan Kettering’s state-of-the-art breast and diagnostic center, which now bears her name. Three years later, she and Self editor Alexandra Penney created the pink ribbon and helped turn it into an international symbol of breast cancer awareness.
In 1993, Lauder co-founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to ensure the sustained funding that would be needed to make meaningful progress in prevention, treatment, and ultimately a cure. She remained its chair until her death in 2011.
She helped start the public conversation around breast cancer that ultimately made it more visible, better understood, and better treated.
