Dorothy GRAY was born Dorothy CLOUDMAN in Gorham, Maine where she grew up on a farm. After moving to New York she worked for Elizabeth ARDEN as a treatment girl before opening her own salon 2 West 57th Street, New York in 1916. However, as she had changed her name to Dorothy CLOUDMAN GARY in 1911, she opened the salon as Dorothy Gray not Dorothy Cloudman. Whatever the circumstances, her business was a success and when she sold out to Lehn & Fink in 1927, she had salons in New York, Atlantic City, San Francisco and Washington and, in 1922, had opened a laboratory at 142 59th Street where her toilet preparations were manufactured under the charge of Michael J. Gregory. After the sale to Lehn & Fink, Dorothy dropped out of history but used the money she made to travel widely in Africa and South America, eventually buying a large dairy farm in Amenia, Duchess County, N.Y., where she was known as Dorothy Long. After selling the farm in the 1960s she moved to Florida where, twice married, she died in her 80s having led a full life. In 1966, Lehn & Fink was bought by Sterling Drug, a U.S. pharmaceutical company. Sterling Drug was acquired by Eastman Kodak in 1988, the various components of Lehn & Fink were separated and Dorothy Gray along with Tussy and some other components were sold first to Reckitt & Colman in 1994 and then to Playtex Products in 1998. After some unsuccessful reorganisations, Playtex sold a number of its brands, including Dorothy Gray and Tussy to Cenuco in 2005. Unfortunately, Cenuco also had financial problems and, after renaming itself Ascendia Brands in 2006, sold Dorothy Gray and Tussy to KCM Brands for $1 million in 2008. This series of buyouts progressively weakened and then nearly caused the extinction of the brand. It no longer exists in the United States, Europe or Australasia but can still be found in Argentina and Uruguay.