Young, Edgar 1908-2007 (Edgar Berryhill Young)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born April 27, 1908, in Anderson, IN; died April 6, 2007, in Medford, NJ. Administrator and author. Young spent years overseeing the construction of the Lincoln Center Project in New York City. He was a 1929 graduate of DePauw University, and also attended graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania, the London School of Economics, and American University. During the Great Depression, Young worked for the American Friends Service Committee and then was assistant to the director of the U.S. Employment Service. He was personnel director for the U.S. Bureau of the Budget during World War II. Moving from the nation's capital to New York City, Young was briefly associated with the Port Authority before John D. Rockefeller III hired him as an associate in 1946. In this capacity, Young advised the Rockefellers on their various philanthropic concerns. Work on the Lincoln Center began in 1956 with Rockefeller as president. Young served as secretary of the Center for the Performing Arts from 1956 to 1962 and chair of the building committee from 1961 to 1970. He was named acting president and then vice president in 1961 and served as director from 1961 to 1981. During this time, Young managed the complex project, which included such well-known New York City features as the Metropolitan Opera House, the New York Public Library, Avery Fisher Hall, the New York State and Vivian Beaumont Theaters, Alice Tully Hall, the Juilliard School, and Damrosch Park. He wrote about his experiences with the Lincoln Center in Lincoln Center: The Building of an Institution (1980).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, April 13, 2007, p. A19.