By Jill Laster

Bernard Lander was a soft-spoken man. But when the founder of Touro College talked about higher education, his enthusiasm could capture any crowd's attention.

"It was very hard to keep up with him, even into his 90s," said Ralph A. Wolff, president of the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities at the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which accredits Touro. "He was always exploring new ventures and new ideas, and many of them came to fruition. I think it's a tremendous testimony."

Mr. Lander, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi known for his devotion both to his faith and to higher education, died in Queens, N.Y., on February 8, of congestive heart failure. He was 94.

After working for a few decades as a professor of sociology at the City University of New York's Hunter College and at Yeshiva University, Mr. Lander opened Touro in 1971. The small Orthodox institution started out in Manhattan with 35 students, all men. Touro is now the largest Jewish-sponsored educational institution based outside of Israel, with more than 17,500 students on 29 campuses internationally. Some of its programs for women are kept separate from those for men, in keeping with Orthodox Jewish tradition.

Mr. Lander worked to expand Touro until quite recently, holding meetings in his New York office and traveling often. In December he helped announce that Touro had agreed to assume control of New York Medical College.

The inspiration for Touro College came after Mr. Lander, who received a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University, finished a study for the University of Notre Dame about student unrest on college campuses. He concluded that students were reacting to a feeling of being treated as a group instead of individuals.

He also worried about Jewish students losing their religious and cultural identity. Throughout his career, he maintained a strong interest in serving Orthodox Jews and other minority populations, said a longtime friend, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a former president of George Washington University.

Building Touro College was a way for Mr. Lander to use his business savvy to serve people who might not have access to higher education, said Mr. Trachtenberg, who is now a professor of public service at George Washington. "I think he saw an opportunity to do good and to do well. He saw a chance to serve people who needed education and provide a way for them to rise up out of the ghetto, rise up out of poverty, into the middle and professional classes. But he wasn't doing it for free."

Mr. Lander quickly established professional programs in law, education, health sciences, and business. Touro has also added colleges of osteopathic medicine in California and New York, along with associated health-profession programs there. Its online division, Touro University International, had grown to 7,500 students by 2007, when Touro sold it to a private-equity firm for $190-million. The growth has not been without problems. In 2008 the U.S. Education Department said Touro had given out more than $36-million in federal aid to students at locations it had not approved. The college has disputed that accusation, and a college spokeswoman said it was working with the department toward a final resolution.

"Here was a man who came from a minority within a minority and yet was able to embrace the 20th and the 21st century in America about as robustly as anybody I know," Mr. Trachtenberg said.

Faith guided every decision Mr. Lander made, said his daughter Deborah Waxman. As a boy, Mr. Lander transferred out of public school to enroll in one that offered a Jewish education. He graduated from Yeshiva College in 1936 and became an ordained rabbi in 1938.

Ms. Waxman said her father was an approachable, altruistic man who wanted to reach out to the community. She remembers people regularly coming to her house when she was growing up and asking her father's advice.

"He was always like, 'How can I help the next human being?'" she said. "I think that was one of the goals that was reflected in Touro."

No matter how busy he was with his work, though, Mr. Lander made time for his family. Ms. Waxman said her father always attended parent-teacher conferences and often played games and talked with his children. He also had a remarkable memory and was able to recall small details of phone conversations with family members from weeks before.

Ms. Waxman remembered skeptical reactions from some when her father decided to start Touro, at the age of 55, but Mr. Lander never held a grudge against the doubters. Instead he just kept working toward building the institution he treasured.

"We always use to call my father the eternal optimist," Ms. Waxman said. "He always felt if you have a will, you will achieve."