Joseph Newton Pew

Joseph "Newton" Pew (July 20, 1848 – October 12, 1912) was the founder of Sun Oil Company (now Sunoco) and a prominent philanthropist.

Joseph N. Pew was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, to John Pew and Nancy Glenn. He worked on the family's farm as a child. Pew attended public schools in Mercer and graduated from Edinboro Normal School (1866). Pew taught school for two years and then became a real estate broker. Eventually, he invested in Pennsylvania oil fields. With several partners, he began piping natural gas. Pew founded several petroleum-related companies and, in 1880, incorporated Sun Oil Company. Pew donated to various charities and sat on the Board of Directors of Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and the Republican Party. Pew's sons, J. Howard Pew and Joseph N. Pew, Jr., took over management of the company after their father's death in 1912 and later, with their sisters, founded The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Joseph N. Pew, Jr.

Joseph Newton Pew, Jr. (November 12, 1886 – April 9, 1963) was an American industrialist and influential member of the Republican Party.

Early life

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pew was the youngest son of Joseph N. Pew and Mary Anderson Pew. Called "Joe," he attended Shady Side Academy and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1908. As an undergraduate, Pew was captain of the track team and won the IC4A championship in the hammer throw. He was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society. As an outstanding athlete and donor to Cornell athletics, he was inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.

Pew married Alberta C. Hersel and had five children.

Sun Oil

After graduation, Pew began work at Sun Oil, a business founded by his father in 1890. When his father died in 1912, Pew became vice president at the age of 26 and his brother, J. Howard Pew, became president of Sun Oil at the age of 30.

The two Pew brothers were instrumental in the expansion and success of Sun Oil. Known for their commitment to employees, the Pews never laid off a Sun Oil employee during the Great Depression and also developed one of the first stock-sharing plans for employees. They founded the Sun Shipbuilding company in 1916 with Joseph in charge, which would become the largest private shipyard and biggest producer of oil tankers in America by World War II. As visionary of the company, it was Pew who was behind the effort to develop gasoline without tetraethyl lead, creating Blue Sunoco. He also developed a gyroscopic instrument with high-speed camera and timing device for preventing the drilling of crooked holes in oil wells. Receiving a patent in 1926, the device helped the company drill deeper oil wells.