Ronald Steven Lauder (born February 26, 1944) is an American businessman. He is the sole heir to The Estée Lauder Companies, founded by his parents Estée Lauder and Joseph Lauder in 1946, following the death of his brother Leonard Lauder in 2025.
According to Forbes, Lauder had a net worth of $4.7 billion as of May 2025 (number 796 on Forbes' list of billionaires). Lauder is a longtime Republican Party donor, and supporter and longtime friend of President Donald Trump; he has been credited with planting the idea of annexing Greenland in Trump's mind.
Lauder ran in the Republican primary for mayor of New York City in 1989.
Early life and education Lauder was born in New York City to a Jewish family, the son of Estée Lauder and Joseph Lauder, founders of Estée Lauder Companies. He is the younger brother of Leonard Lauder, former chairman of the board of the Estée Lauder Companies.
He attended the Bronx High School of Science and holds a bachelor's degree in International Business from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He studied at the University of Paris and received a Certificate in International Business from the University of Brussels.
Career Lauder started to work for the Estée Lauder Company in 1964 as head of the international department. In 1984, he became a deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy at the United States Department of Defense in the Ronald Reagan administration.
In 1986, Ronald Reagan named him as the United States ambassador to Austria, a position he held until 1987. As ambassador, he fired diplomatic officer Felix Bloch, who later became known in connection with the Robert Hanssen espionage case.
As a Republican, he made a bid to become the mayor of New York City in 1989, losing to Rudy Giuliani in the Republican primary (Giuliani lost to David Dinkins in the general election but defeated Dinkins in 1993). His campaign managers were Roger Ailes of Fox News and Arthur Finkelstein, a strong supporter of Richard Nixon. Michael Massing, writing of this nomination race, notes that politically Lauder 'seemed out of step with most American Jews; ... he ran to the right of Rudolph Giuliani. And, on Israeli issues, he was a vocal supporter of the Likud party, with long-standing ties to Benjamin Netanyahu."Massing, Michael (March 2001). "Deal Breakers". The American Prospect. Lauder spent $14 million of his funds on the race. In 1994, he successfully led a campaign to place term limits on the mayor. In the Republican primary, Giuliani had 77,150 (67.0%) vote to 37,960 (33.0%) for Lauder.
In 1998, Lauder was asked by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin Track II negotiations with Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad; these negotiations continued after the election of Ehud Barak to the post. Lauder communicated a new-found willingness on Assad's part to make compromises with the Israelis in an overall land for peace deal, and his draft "Treaty of Peace Between Israel and Syria" formed an important part of the (ultimately fruitless) Israeli-Syrian negotiations that occurred in January 2000 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
Lauder manages investments in real estate and media, including Central European Media Enterprises and Israeli TV. In 2010, Lauder founded RWL Water, LLC.
Lauder suggested to Donald Trump that the United States purchase Greenland, which was discussed in the White House Situation Room as a trade involving Puerto Rico according to Elizabeth Neumann. See page 292. Since Ronald Lauder acquired commercial holdings in Greenland, an article in the Guardian concluded in 2026 that Lauder's suggestions to the President may intersect with his own business interests.
Philanthropic and political activities Lauder has been involved with organizations, such as the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish National Fund, the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbinical College of America, Brandeis University, and the Abraham Fund. With his brother, he founded the Lauder Institute at the Wharton School. Lauder has also served as the finance chairman of the New York Republican State Committee. In 2003, Lauder founded and became the president of Lauder Business School in Vienna, Austria.
Lauder led a movement to introduce term limits in the New York City Council, which were subsequently imposed on most NYC elected officials, including the Mayor and City Council, after a citywide referendum in 1993. In 1996, voters turned down a council proposal to extend term limits. Lauder spent $4 million on the two referendums.
Art On November 16, 2001, Lauder opened the Neue Galerie in New York, an art museum dedicated to art from Germany and Austria from the early 20th century. It holds one of the best collections of works by Egon Schiele in the world.
On June 18, 2006, he purchased from Maria Altmann and her family, the painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt for $135 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting at that time. Lauder called the painting "Our Mona Lisa". He reportedly saw Klimt's portrait as a youth in Vienna and had admired it since. The painting, a Nazi-looted art piece which had just been restored to Altmann following years of negotiation and litigation with the Austrian government, now forms the centerpiece of the museum's collection. Lauder was portrayed by Ben Miles in the film about the painting, Woman in Gold (2015).
Lauder also has the world's largest private collection of medieval and Renaissance armor.
Lauder has been criticized for failure to resolve a case involving the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which in 1997 exhibited some paintings owned by Rudolph Leopold, a Viennese doctor and art collector. An investigative article in The New York Times on December 24, 1997 – "A Singular Passion for Amassing Art, One Way or Another" – outlined a case involving Portrait of Wally by Egon Schiele, which was in the MoMA exhibition but was obtained by Leopold soon after the Nazi era. The New York County District Attorney (Manhattan) stepped in to help restore the piece to descendants of its original owner, but ownership of the painting is still in contention, nearly ten years later. Lauder has been accused of a failure to act on the case, despite being MoMA chairman at the time.Dobrzynski, Judith H. (January 25, 1998) "Man in the Middle of the Schiele Case". The New York Times.
Lauder is an honorary trustee of the World Monuments Fund, a New York-based non-profit with the mission of protecting endangered cultural heritage sites around the world.
In 1987, Lauder established the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, a philanthropic organization that is dedicated to rebuilding Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe. The foundation also supports student exchange programs between New York and various capitals in Central and Eastern Europe.
In 1998, Lauder co-founded the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation with his brother, Leonard A. Lauder. Its mission it to "rapidly accelerate the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer's disease." Ronald continues as the Foundation's co-chairman.
In 2014, Jeffrey Epstein established a limited liability company for Lauder and Leon Black to share ownership of a $25 million artwork by Kurt Schwitters.
In 2019, Lauder purchased a majority of the collection of The International Museum of World War II. An agreement to keep the museum open while a new home was found was terminated by Lauder.
In 2020, Lauder gave 91 pieces of arms and armor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 91-object gift is the museum's most significant of arms and armor since 1942. To honor the gift, the museum's entire group of Arms and Armor galleries is now named for Lauder.
President of the World Jewish Congress
Lauder was elected president of the World Jewish Congress on June 10, 2007, following the resignation of Edgar Bronfman, Sr. He beat the South African businessman Mendel Kaplan and Einat Wilf of Israel by a clear margin.
President George W. Bush appointed him to serve on the honorary delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.
Lauder condemned the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Lauder said in July 2025 that he believed the World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks, which resulted in a $1.29 billion settlement in 1998, should be reopened because of allegations Credit Suisse, now owned by UBS, concealed documents that would have magnified the number of accounts held in Switzerland for Nazi interests and Holocaust victims. Lauder said he believed the original settlement should have been up to $10 billion higher.
Jewish activism In July 2009, Bernie Ecclestone faced calls from Lauder to resign as Formula One chief after he had praised Adolf Hitler in a newspaper interview and said that Hitler "got things done". Lauder said someone with Ecclestone's views should not be allowed to run such an important and popular racing series. He urged Formula One teams, drivers, and host countries to suspend their cooperation with him. In reaction, Ecclestone told the news agency Associated Press that "I think the people who are saying that haven't got the power to say these things." Asked if the World Jewish Congress was influential, Ecclestone said: "It's a pity they didn't sort the banks out" and "They have a lot of influence everywhere". After a public outcry, Ecclestone apologized for his remarks and said he had "been an idiot".
In December 2009, Lauder protested against the Roman Curia's decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Pope Pius XII, asserting that an eventual beatification would be inopportune until the Holy See's historical archives from the 1939–1945 period were opened."World Jewish Congress criticizes Pope's decision to beatify Pius XII". The Jerusalem Post (December 21, 2009).
In 2011, writing in the German newspaper ,"Ronald Lauder, Warum Israel Mitglied der Nato werden muss". Die Welt, February 7, 2011. Lauder called for Israel to be admitted into the Western defense alliance NATO: "Israel needs real guarantees for its security. European NATO member states – including Turkey – must admit the state of Israel into the Western alliance," the WJC president wrote. He referred to the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and said they were reminders of how "unpredictable" developments in the Middle East were. Israeli NATO membership "would send a strong signal to other countries not to take on Israel", Lauder argued."Call for Israel to join NATO". Jewish Chronicle. February 8, 2011.
Lauder has also been outspoken on antisemitism. In an opinion article entitled "Sweden's Shame", he attacked the Swedish government, church officials, and media for "fanning the flames" of hatred against Jews.Lauder, Ronald S. (August 12, 2010). "Sweden's Shame". Project Syndicate.
In May 2012, Lauder condemned as "despicable" remarks made by the Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung who had "revived anti-Semitic canards such as Jewish control of the media" and suggested that Israel's Mossad could have been behind the 2011 "massacres in Norway committed by Anders Breivik" in which 77 people died. Lauder declared: "There is a growing tendency to blame the Jews for all evil that happens under the sun. It is a scandal that a leading academic such as Galtung does not shy away from citing notorious forgeries such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to support his bigoted arguments.""Ronald Lauder condemns Norwegian scholar anti-Semitic statements" . EJU News. May 3, 2012.