Ron Baron’s SpaceX Wealth Fuels New York-Focused Philanthropy

Ron Baron has spent decades making big bets on companies others doubted. His latest wager is on New York City.

With a $75 million gift to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Baron will help build a 2,000-seat outdoor theater offering free performances. Construction started last month, just as Mayor Zohran Mamdani was facing backlash from the city’s billionaires over a planned pied-à-terre tax.

“Most people I talk to are not as positive about New York as I am,” Baron, 83, said in an interview from his Upper East Side apartment. “I saw tougher times, and New York has always ...