Estee Lauder (July 1, 1906 – April 24, 2004) was the founder of Estee Lauder Companies, a ground-breaking cosmetics business.

Estee Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Corona, Queens, New York, the daughter of Hungarian Jewish refugee. Estee Lauder married Joseph Lauter in 1930 and they had two sons. Estee Lauder divorced him in 1939, and re-married him in 1942. The Lauter family changed their surname to "Lauder" in the late 1930s. They remained married until his death in 1982. In 1946, Estee Lauder started her business with a jar of skin cream developed by a chemist uncle and the aspiration to bring out the beauty in every woman. Even before there were labels for the earliest Estee Lauder skin creams, they began to win loyal fans. By the time the new fragrance Youth-Dew was introduced in 1953, the Estee Lauder Company had already won a status for innovation, research and quality.

In 1960 Estee Lauder opened her first account outside America. This account was Harrods in London.

Estee Lauder’s older son, Leonard Lauder, was chief executive of Estee Lauder and is now chairman of the board. Her younger son, Ronald Lauder, is a important philanthropist, a Republican political appointee in the Reagan administration, and developer of property in Berlin, among other endeavors.

Estee Lauder died in her Manhattan manse of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 97.
Estée Lauder was the only woman on Time magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most prominent business geniuses of the 20th century.

Today, the Estee Lauder Collection of skincare, makeup and fragrance exemplifies the best that art and science can accomplish. The Estee Lauder name on a product is recognized in over 100 countries for excellence maintained and promises kept.