As a 16-year-old whose family had fled Egypt with just a few pounds after the Suez crisis in 1956, the young Sir Ronald Cohen loved the summer he spent working among the antiquities of the British Museum in London.
"I had a great affection for the British Museum before that summer," said Cohen, 63, founder of Apax Partners, the private-equity group, who has amassed a £220m fortune during his life in business. "But working there sealed it."
Almost 50 years later - and after a £1m donation - his name now adorns the renovated Ancient Egyptian gallery of the Bloomsbury collection.
Cohen is not the only stalwart of modern-day commerce to be commemorated in this way. Paul Ruddock, co-founder of Lansdowne Partners, a £6 billion hedge fund, backed the restoration of the medieval and renaissance wing at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, where he is chairman, and the medieval Europe gallery at the British Museum.
Michael Hintze, the Australian-born founder of CQS, another hedge fund, and Bill Bollinger, who co-founded Egerton Capital, one of the first British hedge funds, have between them given millions of pounds to the V&A for the restoration and creation of galleries in the past two years.
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Their names are commemorated on the walls of the museums but few visitors recognise them. And such is public disdain for hedge funds that some art lovers might be uncomfortable with the museums' newest patrons.
However, with big cuts in public spending looming and corporate sponsorship in decline, hedgies are fast becoming the new Medicis. Why do they do it? To be accepted socially or make the honours list? Not according to one hedge-fund manager, who described as "complete and utter crap" the idea of such motivation .
Lansdowne's Ruddock agrees. He has donated more than £10m to the arts and education in the past few years: "I've been giving for 15 years and fundraising for the V&A for 10. People don't do it for the glory - they are passionate about the institution."
Hintze, whose charitable foundation gave £2.9m to cultural and educational causes last year, is equally dismissive. "If anyone comes into this trying to get a peerage they will be rudely disappointed. I've been giving for decades and, frankly, if the cynics were giving their money I would take their view with more credence.
"There is an obligation to give back - it's the right thing to do. I just want to serve the institutions that have enriched my life and my children's lives," he said.
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Cohen, a big supporter of the Labour party, takes a less puritanical stance. "As a Jewish child I was brought up with the concept that you should give back a portion of everything you make but, at the same time, I think a peerage is a perfectly legitimate way of encouraging people to give to national institutions," he said. Cohen's knighthood was for services to venture capital rather than the arts.
His view is that Britain should follow America more when it comes to giving. "In the US it is de rigueur to be visibly recognised for giving - if you are not recognised people assume you haven't given," he said. "There are saints who would rather give anonymously but they are a very small percentage of total donors."
Cohen also argues that Britain should replicate America's tax treatment of donations. Philanthropists on both sides of the Atlantic get tax relief on any cash or share donations but, if someone wants to give a museum a piece of art, there is no tax break here though there is in America.
Kenneth Griffin, founder of Citadel, another hedge fund, gave $19m (£12m) to the Art Institute of Chicago for a new building and SAC Capital's Steve Cohen has given Robert Rauschenberg paintings to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Associations with financiers, however, can become embarrassing when their fortunes change. Appointing Kathy Fuld, wife of Lehman Brothers chief executive Dick Fuld, as vice-chairman in 2004 was a big coup for the Museum of Modern Art. After Lehman's collapse, and her husband's later vilification, it didn't look so clever.
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Can institutions guard against such problems? "Due diligence is carried out before we enter into any arrangement," said Sukie Hemming, director of capital development at the British Museum. "We make sure it is an appropriate association."
Mark Jones at the V&A, said the museum followed rules on what money it takes but was not prepared to reveal them. "We have great confidence in all our donors and so far we have always proved to be well-placed."
The V&A has spent £120m on renovations over the past eight years. Almost £90m of that came from private donors and the rest from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The V&A is hoping to raise another £100m for future development but that may prove more challenging.
The lottery fund has reduced its handouts by 40% to £180m over the next 10 years partly because of commitments to the Olympics. Corporate donations are also declining. Figures published last week by Art & Business, a consultancy that promotes cultural philanthropy, showed private-sector investment in the arts falling from a high of £687m in 2007-8 to £655m in 2008-9.
Ruddock, Hintze and Cohen, though, plan to continue giving. "I'll give as much as I possibly can," said Hintze. Might they follow in the footsteps of Sir Henry Tate and found a museum in their own name? "I don't have enough time in my life now," said Ruddock, "but who knows what might happen down the road."