The Board and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA are delighted to announce that the international business leader and philanthropist Leonard A. Lauder, Chairman Emeritus of Estée Lauder Companies, is the third recipient of the Palazzo Strozzi Renaissance Man of the Year Award. This 2013 edition of the Award had a particular focus on America as 2013 was the year of Italian culture in the United States. Mr. Lauder will be honored with this award on April 23, 2014 at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy in the famous Salone dei 500, the cradle of the Renaissance.
Mario Calvo-Platero, Chairman of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA, stated, “Leonard Lauder’s endeavors in business, philanthropy, art and education are far-reaching and thoroughly reflective of the humanistic values of the Renaissance legacy. In many ways, Estée Lauder Companies has helped re-define women and beauty on a global level, enhancing positive values, self-confidence and awareness, and Mr. Lauder’s leadership has guided the company in this effort. His numerous achievements make him the ideal recipient of our Award in 2013, the year which also celebrated Italian culture in the United States.”
The Palazzo Strozzi Foundation is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization in New York representing the Fondazione Palazzo strozzi and the Association of Partners Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.
In 2011, the Board of Trustees of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA established the Renaissance Man/Woman of the Year Award to identify and honor individuals who, over the course of their lives, represent the Renaissance values that link in a single thread the Greek and Roman classical periods, the Enlightenment and our own time. As in contemporary Medicean spirit, these individuals have had a lifelong impact on many different fields. The honorees embody the highest qualities of the Renaissance character, either by displaying extraordinary entrepreneurship and establishing new frontiers, or by supporting philanthropy, the arts, social causes and global understanding.
Previous award recipients are Ted Turner, 2011 Renaissance Man of the Year; and Her Excellency Madam Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union, 2012 Renaissance Woman of the Year.
