(Image Source: Rob Rich/Breast Cancer Research Foundation)

BY MEGAN NOE

ANCHOR ANTHONY MARTINEZ

The media remembered the life of Evelyn Lauder Sunday -- the businesswoman and health advocate who got the world to think pink.

“The woman who helped create the pink ribbon symbol for breast cancer awareness has died. Evelyn Lauder appeared on the Today Show a few years ago to talk about the pink ribbon campaign. Married into the Estee Lauder cosmetics family, she died Saturday at her home in New York City due to complications from ovarian cancer. Evelyn Lauder was 75."

A fighter since her youth, Forbes describes humble beginnings for the philanthropist.

“Evelyn Lauder came to America as a small child, having fled her native Austria during the Nazi annexation. After brief periods in Belgium and England, she and her family arrived in New York by boat. On her website, she remembered her mother waking her in time to see the Statue of Liberty so she’d always remember that sight.”

As the wife of billionaire Leonard Lauder, Evelyn carved a place in what the New York Times calls a competitive family -- gaining favor with a formidable mother-in-law, Estee Lauder.

“Mrs. Lauder frequently told the story of how, early in her marriage, she returned to the couple’s apartment to find that Estée had rearranged the furniture more to her liking. When Evelyn and Leonard were dating — it was only their second date -- Estée implored her to stay and be the hostess for a birthday party she was giving her son.”

Lauder’s toughness didn’t just apply to business, where she headed fragrance development for the $22 billion makeup giant. Women’s Wear Daily describes personal strength as well.

“She never drew attention to the fact that she herself was a cancer survivor, surviving both early-stage breast cancer and ovarian cancer. It was not until an interview in 2009 with WWD that she even acknowledged having been stricken by the disease, and then she discounted her case as merely ‘a scare,’ in deference to those who she felt had suffered much more.”

In 1993, Lauder founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Foundation has raised more than $350 million for cancer research.