Joseph N. Pew Jr. persuaded the company to lay gasoline pipelines from the Marcus Hook refinery to distribution points in Ohio, New York, and New Jersey and then negotiated with 1,000 landholders in four states for permission to cross their property.

Joseph Jr. ran the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Company in Chester, Pennsylvania, which would become the largest private shipyard and biggest producer of oil tankers in America by World War II.

He also developed a gyroscopic instrument with high-speed camera and timing device for preventing the drilling of crooked holes in oil wells.

Pew hired his Quill and Dagger classmate from Cornell, Samuel B. Eckert, who served as Sun Oil treasurer and vice president.

By strategically spending millions of dollars, Pew earned a reputation as Pennsylvania's political boss, controlling state and national elections.

Pew is also given credit for the election of both Arthur H. James and Edward Martin as Pennsylvania Governor and Bernard Samuel as Mayor of Philadelphia.

In 1951, Pew began an effort to assist traditionally black colleges, hiring Cornell alumnus Jerome H. Holland as a consultant to the foundation.

Pew died in 1963, and is entombed in the family mausoleum in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.