Lincoln Center rose from the ashes of what was once a thriving, if ramshackle West Side neighborhood. Masterbuilder Robert Moses chose the site and the land was seized by the government. Construction began on May 21, 1959. John D. Rockefeller 3rd was the first president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Mr. Young was his chief project advisor. Over the life of the enterprise, he graduated to a series of positions: acting president of the corporation in 1961; executive vice president from 1962 to 1965; and chairman of the building committee from 1961 to 1971.

In addition to the Beaumont, Mr. Young oversaw the construction of Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall), the New York State Theater, the Metropolitan Opera House, Alice Tully Hall, the Juilliard School, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Guggenheim Band Shell in Damrosch Park.

Edgar Berryhill Young was born in Anderson, IN, on April 27, 1908, the only child of Earl and Irene Berryhill Young, according to the Times. He attended DePauw University and the London School of Economics. In 1933 he was hired by the federal Department of Labor, and six years later he joined the Bureau of the Budget in the Roosevelt administration.

In 1980, after he had retired, he published "Lincoln Center: The Building of an Institution."

He is survived by his sons John, of Princeton, NJ; Peter of Las Cruces, NM, and Robert of Collins Lake, CA.