Donation Wins David Geffen Naming Rights For Lincoln Center Performing Arts Hall

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Entertainment industry executive David Geffen will see his name on the performing arts building at Lincoln Center, after donating $100 million.

The building - long known as Avery Fisher Hall - will be renamed David Geffen Hall in September, Lincoln Center chairwoman Katherine Farley announced Wednesday.

"As a native New Yorker, I recognize that Lincoln Center is a beacon to artists and musicians around the world," Geffen, a music and movie mogul, and longtime philanthropist, said in the statement. "To be involved with such a beloved and iconic institution is deeply satisfying."

Lincoln Center announced in November that it would take Fisher's name off its concert hall and resell the naming rights to help finance a $500 million renovation.

The renovation scheduled to start in 2019 was announced after the Fisher family agreed to accept $15 million to drop the name from the hall where the New York Philharmonic plays.

One precedent close at hand is the former New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, renamed the David H. Koch Theater in 2008 after the oil-and-gas billionaire pledged $100 million.

Avery Fisher Hall was named for Fisher, a violinist and high-fidelity pioneer who founded the Fisher Radio Company, after he financed an earlier renovation in 1973.

Fisher died in 1994. Under the agreement reached with his three children, the renovated concert hall will feature prominent tributes to Fisher and the family will stay involved.

Geffen – a native of Borough Park, Brooklyn – is the founder of DreamWorks SKG Studios and Geffen Records, and the co-founder of Asylum Records.

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