Cosmetics Heir Leonard Lauder Donates $131M To The Whitney Art Museum

March 20, 2008 4:46 p.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN)-Leonard Lauder, the chairman of the Estee Lauder Cos., donated $131 million to The Whitney Museum of American Art, raising the museum's endowment to $195 million.

The 75-year-old billionaire, who also chairs the museum's board of trustees, said he hoped the donation would encourage others to give generously to the Whitney. His gift, so far, is the largest donation to the institution to date.

Lauder says his prime motivation was to help the Whitney retain its Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue at 75th Street.

Last year, the museum announced it was planning to open a second location in a meatpacking district of Manhattan, causing some to believe that it would sell its current locale because it wouldn't be able to run two buildings.

Lauder has been active in the Whitney, launching six years ago a campaign to purchase $200 million worth of American art by the likes of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstien, Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock.

The Whitney, founded in 1930, specializes in 20th and 21st- century American art.