Ralph Lauren

About

Ralph Lauren ( LOR-ən; né Lifshitz; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped down as CEO of the company in September 2015 but remains executive chairman and chief creative officer. As of June 2026, his net worth is estimated at US$15.2 billion.

Lauren was born on October 14, 1939, in the Bronx, New York, to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants Frieda Lifshitz (née Cutler) and Frank Lifshitz (né Efraim Lifshitz), an artist and house painter, from Pinsk, Belarus. The youngest of four siblings, he has two brothers and one sister. At the age of 16, he and his brother George Poitras Lauren legally changed their last name from Lifshitz to 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…