Under Mr. Kaplan, the foundation provided the money to save Carnegie Hall in the 1960s when no one else seemed interested. It also created Westbeth, the artists’ housing complex in Lower Manhattan that became the model for the rehabilitation of industrial buildings everywhere. Under Ms. Davidson, the foundation laid the groundwork, and provided much of the money, for the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, formed to renovate and preserve the mayor’s residence. Throughout her tenure, she preferred making relatively small grants, some as little as $1,000 but generally in the tens of thousands. “To us the point was to use money strategically, to get causes off the ground.”

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Persons: Kaplan, Davidson, “, ” Organizations: Carnegie Hall, Gracie, Conservancy, New York Times Locations: Lower Manhattan, New York