David Geffen Gives $150 Million to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Entertainment mogul David Geffen pledged $150 million to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for its ongoing expansion efforts, the institution announced Wednesday,

Mr. Geffen has poured enormous amounts of cash into a number of prominent cultural and educational institutions in Los Angeles and New York in recent years.

His latest gift brings the total he has given publicly to more than $780 million, most of it within the past five years. He has appeared on The Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 report on the most generous donors in America four times since 2002.

He gave $100 million to the Museum of Modern Art in 2016 for renovations and another $100 million to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 2015 for a big rebuilding project for the home of the New York Philharmonic, now called Geffen Hall, a project which has since run into delays and other problems.

He gave $25 million to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2013 for a museum and more than $6 million to the Geffen Playhouse, a theater company in Los Angeles in 2002.

With regard to this latest donation, Mr. Geffen said he wanted the public to continue to have access to world-class art experiences.

“At a time when federal funding for the arts is threatened, it’s important that we foster public-private partnerships like this one to support art and cultural institutions,” he said in statement. “We must ensure that the public, everyone, has access to these institutions.”

Mr. Geffen is also a longtime donor to education. He gave $200 million to the University of California at Los Angeles in 2002 for its medical school, which was named for him; and another $100 million to the medical school in 2012 to endow scholarships. He also donated $100 million to the university in 2015 for a college-preparatory academy and financial aid.