Lloyd Cotsen | Neutrogena chairman, 88

Lloyd Cotsen, 88, who made a fortune as chairman of the Neutrogena soap and cosmetics company and devoted millions to charity, has died in California.

Mr. Cotsen died on Monday at his home in Beverly Hills, according to Lynn Berger, a family spokeswoman.

Mr. Cotsen joined his father-in-law's cosmetics firm and by 1967 he was president. He marketed Neutrogena by getting luxury hotels to buy it and dermatologists to recommend it.

Sales of the clear amber soap soared as Mr. Cotsen helped build the company into a worldwide brand.

The company was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 1994 for $924 million, of which Mr. Cotsen received about $350 million.

Mr. Cotsen used some of the money to expand his lifelong penchant for collecting. He amassed collections of folk art, illustrated children's books, Japanese bamboo baskets, antique Chinese mirrors, and other items.

He donated collections to museums and universities. More than 40,000 children's books were donated to Princeton University, Mr. Cotsen's alma mater, where they are housed in a library that bears his name.

Mr. Cotsen also donated more than 3,000 objects, including textiles, to the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, N.M.

Mr. Cotsen also made charitable donations in the fields of education and archaeology.

Mr. Cotsen's life was shattered by the 1979 killing of his first wife, 14-year-old son, and another youth. They were tied up and shot by a masked intruder in their Beverly Hills home while Mr. Cotsen was out of town.

The suspect, a business rival, later killed himself at his home in Belgium on the day that detectives were to question him. - AP