Lloyd E. Cotsen ’50

Lloyd, a former charter trustee of Princeton, died May 8, 2017, at his home in Beverly Hills. The Los Angeles Times described him as a “multimillionaire soap salesman who became an elite L.A. philanthropist.”

Born in Boston, where he attended high school, he transferred to Princeton from Rutgers in 1947. He belonged to Court and majored in history. Discharged as a Navy lieutenant junior grade after three years of service, he pursued graduate studies in architecture at Princeton, was a fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and earned an MBA from Harvard.

In 1957 he joined his father-in-law’s cosmetic company, which he built into a multi-million-dollar business by manufacturing and creatively marketing Neutrogena, an amber-colored, glycerin-based beauty soap that he learned to make in Belgium. In 1967 he became the corporation president. In 1994 he sold it to Johnson & Johnson. He then established an investment-management corporation.

Lloyd had a lifelong penchant for collecting, though he called it “accumulating.” He amassed collections, which include folk art, Japanese bamboo baskets, and Chinese mirrors, that he donated to various museums. He gave his 40,000-plus illustrated children’s books to Princeton for the children’s library within Firestone that bears his name.

He is survived by his wife, Margit; children Corinna, Tobey, and Eric; and eight grandchildren.