$100 Million Gift For Central Park

Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson has donated $100M to the Central Park Conservancy. His gift is believed to be the largest personal donation to any park in American history.

John Paulson, 56, was set to meet with Mayor Bloomberg this morning to formally announce the mind-blowing contribution. Paulson was previously best known for making a killing in 2007, short-selling the mortgage and securities market. He reportedly made $4 billion by anticipating the monumental burst of America's housing bubble. “It is a great privilege to be able to contribute to the Central Park Conservancy, one of the most important cultural institutions in New York,” Paulson said. Paulson apparently has enough loose change to make the massive donation. He’s No. 28 in the Forbes 400 and No. 61 in the list of Forbes Billionaires.

RELATED: The Central Park Conservancy is a private non-profit group that operates the park under a contract with New York City. It was founded in 1980 after the city's near-bankruptcy woes in the mid-70s caused much of the park to fall into embarrassing and dangerous disrepair. Only 15% of their annual budget is provided by the city. The rest comes from corporations and private donations. Many of the Conservancy's biggest donors are the celebrities whose zillion-dollar apartments face the park.