Primary Funding Region

Jack Murdock sought to direct the resources from his estate to elevate and celebrate people, labors, learning, energy, creativity, and beauty with particular attention to the Pacific Northwest he so loved.

Washington was Jack’s home, where he lived a good portion of his life and established a Piper aircraft distributorship--the scope of which helped define our five-state region. Born and raised in Oregon, Jack began his creative work at Tektronix, a primary source of the personal fortune which seeded his endowment. Alaska took delivery of a large fraction of his Piper aircraft sales, as did people in the vast wide open spaces of Montana and Idaho. Click here to learn more about Jack Murdock.

By the close of 1975, the three Trustees appointed in his will to steward the mission of the Trust’s resources focused their grantmaking to serving the geographic region and made the initial 14 grants, for a little over $4 million, to educational and non-profit organizations of the Pacific Northwest. That geographic focus continues to the present.