Over more than six decades, Lauder played a key role in transforming the business from a handful of products sold under a single brand in U.S. stores to a multi-brand global giant.

Leonard Lauder, a renowned philanthropist who expanded the family cosmetics business into a worldwide empire, has died at the age of 92.

He formally joined Estée Lauder at age 25 in 1958, when the company had just a handful of employees and under $1 million in sales.