Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has become well known for his collection of rare automobiles, some of which have been displayed in museum exhibits. He stepped down as CEO of the company in September 2015 but remains executive chairman and chief creative officer. As of April 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$6.9 billion. Early life Lauren was born on October 14, 1939, in the Bronx, New York City, to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants Frieda (Cutler) and Frank Lifshitz, an artist and house painter, from Pinsk, Second Polish Republic (now Belarus). His mother was from Drahichyn, Belarus. The youngest of four siblings, he has two brothers and one sister. At age 16, he legally changed his second name from Lifshitz to Lauren along with his brother George Poitras Lauren, due to bullying at school. His choice of the name followed his older brother Jerry Lauren, who had first done so after experiencing bullying in the U.S. Air Force. Lauren attended day school followed by the Manhattan Talmudical Academy, before eventually graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1957. He attended Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY), where he studied business, although he dropped out after two years. He was one of several design leaders raised in the Jewish community in the Bronx, along with Calvin Klein and Robert Denning.