New York University’s neighbors may sometimes grumble. And there may be a few nincompoops among its professoriate. But there’s no question whatsoever that, on a net basis, the city as a whole is by far stronger and richer for having New York University as a world-class research university in the heart of Greenwich Village. It provides jobs. It brings bright young law and business students to the city from all over the world, many of whom stay here and contribute to the city’s prosperity. Its doctors and hospitals help heal the city’s sick. The stars on its faculty, like Mitchell Moss and Richard Stewart, enrich our public debate. That such a university exists is to a large degree the result of the work of George Heyman Jr., who died Sunday at age 89. As chairman of the NYU’s trustee development committee, Heyman played a key role in raising the literally billions of dollars that helped raise the university’s status to topnotch from second-tier. New Yorkers tend sometimes to think first about government institutions and officials when pondering the state of our city. Heyman’s achievements — at NYU, on Wall Street, and at the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, of which he was president — were at the private institutions that make this city what it is. He was a model of the private man who had a public impact.