Billionaire John Paulson this week became a hero to nature lovers everywhere as he donated $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy — the nonprofit tasked with keeping the park in top shape.
It’s the largest single individual gift to the conservancy and believed to be the largest donation to any park in America.
Paulson, a conservancy trustee, can be assured his gift will be put to good use.
The conservancy was born in 1980, after a decade when the city’s financial crisis left the 843-acre landmark a dangerous, dilapidated eyesore.
Three decades later, its stewardship has restored Central Park into a real municipal asset, hosting 38 million visitors a year; 85 percent of its $46 million budget comes from individual, corporate and foundation support.
Paulson may not be well known, but his generosity extends far and wide. His other gifts include $20 million to his alma mater NYU, $5 million to Southampton Hospital and $15 million to an Ecuadorian maternity hospital, where his father was born.
Not bad for a man who made much of his money from hedge funds, the oft-vilified “stepchild” of the financial industry.
Paulson scored big in 2007 by realizing that the mortgage and securities sector was about to collapse, “shorting” the sector — and making a reported $4 billion.
All done quite honestly and above board.
And now he’s giving back.
This, frankly, is quite common — one of the great, yet often overlooked, virtues of America’s free-enterprise society.
Those fortunate to be rewarded by working hard often return some of their gains for the betterment of their communities, cities and nation as a whole.
Note how Michael Bloomberg’s fortune has helped save lives via millions donated for cancer research at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore.
And now, John Paulson steps forward.
New Yorkers should thank him — and the American way that helped make it possible.