BAUM, MORTON

BAUM, MORTON (1905–1968), U.S. lawyer, politician, and patron of the arts. Baum was born in New York City. He became a Republican district leader on Manhattan's West Side. In 1934 he was elected to the city council. As Mayor La Guardia's tax counsel, Baum devised New York City's first sales tax. He served as a tax consultant to subsequent New York mayors and to several governors. A lover of the performing arts, Baum was elected to the board of the Metropolitan Opera Company in 1941. In 1943 he helped found the New York City Center of Music and Drama, and was instrumental in developing its renowned ballet troupe and opera company. He was the first president of New York's Metropolitan Synagogue (1959).