Mary Kay Ash, Founder of Mary Kay Inc., Dies

Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc., died this afternoon of natural causes at her home in Dallas, the company announced. After suffering a stroke in 1996, Mary Kay had been in fragile health in recent years. “The world has lost one of its greatest champions of women and one of the most loving and inspirational business leaders,” said Richard Rogers, Mary Kay’s son and co-founder of the company, who today serves as its chairman and chief executive officer.

In 1963, Ms. Ash launched her company by investing her life savings of $5,000. Mary Kay Inc. today generates more than $2.4 billion in annual sales at the retail level and boasts an independent sales force of more than 850,000 women in 37 countries on five continents.

“Everyone in the Mary Kay community deeply mourns the loss of our inspirational founder and mentor,” stated Tom Whatley, president of global sales. “Yet, we are comforted by knowing that Mary Kay’s legacy of serving women around the world will continue to flourish, enriching millions of women’s lives by offering them unprecedented opportunities for personal and financial growth.”

When she formed the company that bears her name, Ms. Ash sought to enrich women’s lives by offering them unlimited potential for financial independence, career advancement and personal fulfillment.

“I wasn’t that interested in the dollars-and-cents part of the business,” she once said. “My interest in starting Mary Kay Inc. was to offer women opportunities that didn’t exist anywhere else.” Mary Kay often said she hoped that she would be remembered as “someone who helped women understand how great they really are.”

Ms. Ash served as chairman emeritus of Mary Kay Inc. since 1987. Committed to the fight against cancers affecting women and the prevention of violence against women, she also served as chairman of the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation since 1996. She was the recipient of many business and civic honors, including the prestigious Horatio Alger Dstinguished American Citizen Award and the Hall of Fame Award from the Direct Selling Association.

She was elected to both the National Business Hall of Fame and the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and Lifetime Television named Mary Kay the most influential woman in business in the 20th century.

Mary Kay Inc. has been listed three times in The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, as published by Fortune Magazine, and one of the top 10 for women. In addition, Mary Kay was the only woman among 20 entrepreneurs profiled in the book, Forbes’ Greatest Business Stories of All Time. She herself was the author of three books, all of which achieved best-seller status.

Mary Kay, as she preferred to be called, was born in Hot Wells, Texas, a small town near Houston. Her rise to national prominence in sales came first with Stanley Home Products. In only her second year with Stanley, she was named queen of sales, a title she carried with her for the remainder of her career.

She is survived by two sons, Richard and Ben, and was preceded in death by her daughter Marylyn and husband Mel Ash. Ms. Ash leaves 16 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.