Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner, an executive for the Estee Lauder Companies and a philanthropist who supported programs in New York City and Sag Harbor, died in Manhattan on Feb. 26. She was 92.
Mrs. Wagner joined the Estee Lauder Companies in 1975 as vice president, director of marketing, of the Estee Lauder brand in the international division. In that role she oversaw the explosion of the brand internationally, and she was promoted to corporate senior vice president in 1982, reporting directly to Leonard Lauder, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Four years later she was named president and chief executive officer of the international division, which became the largest and most profitable division of the company, with sales and marketing of its products in more than 100 countries.
Under her guidance, the first freestanding stores for both the Estee Lauder brand and Clinique opened in Eastern Europe and Russia. Other flagship stores opened in five cities in China and in every major Asia-Pacific country.
In 1998, Mrs. Wagner became the first vice chairwoman of the corporation. In that position, she represented it in important global associations. She served three terms as a presidential appointment to the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations and was the U.S. chairwoman of Group III (World Trade Organization negotiations) of the Trans Atlantic Business Dialogue for 2000 and 2001. She retired from Estee Lauder in 2002 with the title of vice chairwoman emerita.
Jeanette Sarkisian was born in Manhattan on July 2, 1929, to Souren Sarkisian and the former Nazely Norsigian. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, and in the 1980s graduated from the advanced management program of the Harvard Business School.
Before joining Estee Lauder, she held editorial and management positions with the Hearst Corporation, including editor in chief of all international editions and director of new ventures. She was the first female senior editor of The Saturday Evening Post and an editor of The Chicago Daily News.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Mrs. Wagner was an advocate for public education and served as secretary of the board of the Fund for Public Schools in New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In 1999, she and her husband, Paul A. Wagner, whom she had married in 1965, formed the pro bono group Nulli Secundus Associates, which aided clients from the nonprofit world in the development of strategies for success by providing financial support, mentorship, and inspiration. Mr. Wagner died in 2015.
The Wagners supported many educational and cultural organizations in New York, among them the Jeanette and Paul Wagner Educational Program for Children With Disabilities, a part of the Historic House Trust, and the New York Society Library Young Writers Awards.
In Sag Harbor, where they had a second home, they contributed to Bay Street Theater, the Sag Harbor Cinema, the Eastville Community Historical Society, and The Church, and provided long-term support for the renovation and expansion of the John Jermain Memorial Library.
Mrs. Wagner also underwrote many programs at the library, including the Paul A. Wagner Dialogues, which provided a forum for the discussion of serious issues, and the Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner Teen Writing Workshops, a series that pairs teenagers with professional writers.
She served on the boards of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the New York City Cultural Commission, the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, New York City Center, and the Foreign Policy Association, among many others.
Her awards included an honorary doctorate from Marymount Manhattan College, the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund Aiming High Award, the Foreign Policy Association’s Outstanding Woman in Foreign Policy Award, and the Historical House Trust Leadership Award.
Mrs. Wagner is survived by two stepchildren, Paul and Paula Wagner, and a niece, Nicole Vartanian.
