The Jewish National Fund has announced a bequest of more than $60 million from the estate of longtime supporter John Boruchin.

The largest gift in the 112-year history of the organization will be used to establish the JNF Center for Zionist Education and Advocacy and pushes the total raised by JNF's 2013 campaign to a record $121 million. The trust is not yet liquid; a committee of lay leaders led by JNF president Jeffrey E. Levine will structure the trust's use and monitor its investments to achieve Boruchin's wishes.

Boruchin, who was born in Poland and lost his family in the Holocaust, met his wife Dora, whose family also perished in the war, in Russia after the war, and they eventually settled in California, where Boruchin made his fortune in the tract home building business.

"John Boruchin had a longtime commitment to JNF — from childhood till death," said JNF chief executive Russell F. Robinson. "Over the years he funded water and Zionist education initiatives and our Blueprint Negev campaign. A self-made millionaire, he was impressed with JNF's business model of innovation, vision, and ingenuity. He saw us as we are — an organization of social entrepreneurs utilizing cutting-edge best practices to operate like a twenty-first century business. He challenged us to get others to follow his lead...[He and his wife] wanted to take on bold initiatives that would connect children to Zionism and make Israel strong."