Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren was born in the south of New York City borough of The Bronx to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from Belarus^[1]: Fraydl (Kotlar) and Frank Lifshitz, a house painter.^{[citation needed]}

From a young age, he started working after school to earn money to buy suits. The four-year younger Calvin Klein, lived in the same Bronx neighborhood, but it is not known if they ever met while living there.

Lauren attended the Salanter Academy Jewish Day School followed by MTA (now known as the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy), before eventually graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1957.^{[citation needed]} In MTA Lauren was known by his classmates for selling ties to his fellow students. In his Clinton yearbook he stated under his picture that he wanted to be a millionaire.^{[citation needed]} Other notables who attended this school include Burt Lancaster, Robert Klein, and Stan Lee. At age 16, Ralph's brother Jerry changed their last name from Lifshitz to Lauren (his brother Lenny retained the name Lifshitz for many years).

He went to the Baruch College (of the City University of New York) where he studied business, although he dropped out after two years. From 1962 to 1964, he served in the United States Army. After his discharge, in 1968, he married Ricky Low-Beer. He did not attend fashion school, but worked for Brooks Brothers as a salesman. In 1967, with the financial backing of Norman Hilton, Lauren opened a necktie store where he also sold ties of his own design, under the label "Polo". He later purchased the name from Hilton. Lauren's fashion empire has since grown into a billion-dollar business.

In 1984 he transformed the Rhinelander Mansion, former home of the photographer Edgar de Evia and Robert Denning, into the flagship store for Polo Ralph Lauren. This same year de Evia photographed the cover feature story for House & Garden on the Lauren home Round Hill in Jamaica^[2], which had formerly been the home of Babe and Bill Paley.^[3]

In the middle of the 1990s, Polo Ralph Lauren became a public company, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RL.

Ralph and his wife, Ricky, have two sons and a daughter: Andrew (b. 1969 in New York City, New York), David (b. 1971), and Dylan Lauren (b. May 1974 in New York City, New York. David is an executive at Polo Ralph Lauren and Dylan owns and operates an upscale candy store, Dylan's Candy Bar, at 59th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan. Ricky appeared on the television show Martha on December 10th 2006 and stated that her son Andrew is in the "movie business".

Lauren is the subject of several biographies (written by Jeffrey Trachtenberg, Michael Gross and Colin MacDowell).

Lauren is also well-known as a collector of classic automobiles. His cars have won best in show at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance multiple times. His collection was recently displayed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

By 2007 Ralph Lauren had over 35 boutiques in United States. There were 23 locations that carried Ralph Lauren Purple Label, including Atlanta, Beverly Hills, Boston, Charlotte, Chevy Chase, Chicago, Costa Mesa, Dallas Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Manhasset, New York, Palm Beach, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Short Hills, Troy, Orlando Florida and Washington DC.