Obituary: Evelyn Lauder, creator of pink breast cancer ribbon, dies aged 75

Evelyn Lauder, the former Estee Lauder executive best known for creating the famous pink breast cancer ribbon, has died at the age of 75.

Back in the early 90s, Evelyn Lauder and Alexandra Penney started working on a campaign to encourage women to remember the importance of taking regular breast examinations. The result was the pink ribbon, now an internationally recognised symbol of the breast cancer campaign.

In 2007, Evelyn Lauder was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but she kept working and two years later she was present to witness the opening of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, which was made possible thanks to the huge sums of money that Lauder’s campaigns had raised.