J. Howard Pew

Pew married Helen Jennings Thompson. She died in 1963. They had a son, George T. Pew, and two daughters.

J. Howard Pew died in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1971.

With his siblings, Pew was a co-founder of The Pew Charitable Trusts. J. Howard Pew also donated the funds for the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust in 1957. Pew donated to and worked with a number of conservative political organizations and religious figures. History scholar James McKay argues that Pew helped forge a link between evangelicalism and conservative politics: "For [evangelicals such as Pew], spreading the gospel of economic individualism was spreading the Christian message; one would eventually lead to the other"; Pew had close links to the National Association of Evangelicals and also "provided a direct connection at the highest levels between [the Foundation for Economic Education] and evangelicalism." He provided early funding to support Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, working closely with Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga to start Christianity Today. Pew also donated to organizations including the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), American Liberty League, James W. Fifield Jr.'s Spiritual Mobilization religious-political organization, and Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. Pew also made a one-time $1000 gift to the Liberty Lobby.

Through their membership in the National Association of Manufacturers, Pew and DuPont CEO Jasper Crane became friends and found a commonality in their shared belief in "the inherent Christianity of unfettered capitalism"; both served on FEE's board of trustees. Believing that clergy were the prime promoters of socialism and communism, Pew identified closely with Spiritual Mobilization's goals and began to focus his own efforts on influencing clergy politically. In 1950, Pew founded the libertarian Christian Freedom Foundation (CFF) together with Howard Kershner to promote social and economic conservatism among clergy. Within several years, Pew saw the need to also promote theological conservatism and began working with Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga to support the founding of Christianity Today magazine. By the mid-1970s, the struggling CFF was taken over by Bill Bright and John Conlan as a non-profit to receive donations for their Third Century Publishing, and was headed by Christian right pioneer Ed McAteer.

Although Pew denied being a member of the John Birch Society, he was listed a member of the editorial advisory board of the group's publication, American Opinion, and as a stockholder of Robert Welch, Inc., the group's publishing arm. Pew had been invited to the organization's founding meeting by founder Robert Welch, a fellow member of NAM, but was unable to attend. He was hesitant to support the JBS strongly due to Welch's lack of shared views on the importance of Christianity, but Pew continued contact and support of Welch for a time.