Creator of the famous pink ribbon campaign, Evelyn Lauder, died this week.
Lauder of Estee Lauder, the company founded by her mother-in-law who died in 2004 at 97, which she was previously senior corporate vice president, died Saturday in New York from complications of nongenetic ovarian cancer.
Lauder died at the age of 75. She leaves behind her husband, sons, William and Gary along with five grandchildren.
She was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Her diagnosis didn’t stop her, most recently in April, Evelyn Lauder attended the New York Women in Communications’ 2011 Matrix Awards at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.
Lauder is best known for championing the breast cancer awareness efforts and is regarded as the pink ribbon campaign creator.
According to the Associated Press, in 1992, Lauder worked with her friend Alexandra Penney, the former editor-in-chief of Self magazine, to create the pink ribbon campaign for breast cancer awareness, which started small with Lauder and her husband, Leonard, largely financing the little bows given to women at department store makeup counters to remind them about breast exams.
The campaign grew into a giant with fundraising products and the designation of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Additionally, Lauder started the Breast Cancer Research Foundation which has collected around $330 million in donations, reported Associated Press.
