The New Jersey Performing Arts Center has announced a $20 million bequest from longtime supporter Betty Wold Johnson in support of its Endowment Fund.

In making her gift, Johnson, who died in May at the age of 99, emphasized the necessity of funding maintenance and capital projects to ensure the sustainability of NIPAC's physical plant. The matriarch of the family that founded Johnson & Johnson, the multinational medical device and healthcare products company, donated $11 million to the center in 2008 — at the time, the largest individual gift in the center's history. In honor of her bequest, NJPAC will name the stage in Prudential Hall, its biggest theater, after Johnson.

"Mom once said that the arts 'feed the spirit', and she would have been pleased and proud of this very fitting recognition for her longtime support of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center," said her sons, Woody and Christopher Johnson, in a statement.

"Mrs. Johnson had a mighty spirit and a big heart," said NJPAC president and CEO John Schreiber. "She cared about the Arts Center's mission and business with equal intensity. Her gift inspires us to be the most effective, dynamic, and creative anchor cultural institution possible."