Pew Research Center and Its Founders: From an Oil Fortune to Global Influence on Public Understanding

Three layers must be distinguished:

The central founding research leader: Andrew Kohut. He built its polling tradition and became the first president of the consolidated center established in 2004.

The institutional creator and principal funder: The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The earlier source of wealth: the Pew family’s oil business. Family members established charitable funds that eventually supported the research center.

Two different paths therefore converge: a polling professional from a working-class family built research capabilities, while an industrial family converted commercial wealth into lasting philanthropic resources.

“Pew” is a family name, not an acronym.

26、What Pew Research Center actually does

Pew describes itself as a “fact tank.”

Its subjects include American politics, international public opinion, religion, migration, demographics, news consumption, technology, and social change.

Its stated boundary distinguishes it from policy-advocacy organizations: it examines public attitudes and behavior without recommending policy solutions.

Its production model also distinguishes it from a conventional news website. Much of its work originates in surveys, demographic analysis, and studies of digital behavior.

Its position in the information economy is that of an upstream producer of evidence used by journalists, researchers, policymakers, and the public. That is an analytical description of its role, rather than a legal designation.

27、Kohut’s family background

Andrew Kohut was born on September 2, 1942, in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Rochelle Park.

His father, Peter, was a glassblower; his mother, Lena, worked in manufacturing.

He did not inherit the Pew family’s fortune, name, or industrial business. His route into national public affairs ran through research skills, organizational leadership, and professional credibility.

His relationship with Pew developed after he had established his career. It was a partnership between a research professional and a philanthropic institution.

28、Education and professional formation

Kohut earned a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University in 1964.

He studied sociology at Rutgers University from 1964 to 1966. His archival biography at Cornell’s Roper Center states that he left before graduating to work for Gallup.

He should therefore be described as having undertaken graduate study, rather than automatically credited with a Rutgers master’s degree or doctorate.

Industry biographies identify George Gallup and Paul Perry as important teachers. His eventual skill set combined social-science training, practical survey work, and public communication.

29、Gallup: the foundation of his career

Kohut joined Gallup in 1966, spent approximately 23 years there, and served as president from 1979 to 1989.

Leading a polling organization requires coordinating sampling, questionnaire design, error assessment, interpretation, and communication.

By the time he helped build Pew, he already knew how to run a national research operation. He developed the underlying capabilities before finding the institutional structure that would sustain them.

Gallup supplied professional experience and credibility; it did not give him ownership of Pew

30、His commercial venture: Princeton Survey Research Associates

In 1989, Kohut and Diane Colasanto established Princeton Survey Research Associates, or PSRA.

It specialized in media, politics, and public-policy research and conducted surveys for Newsweek and Times Mirror. Roper records their joint ownership from 1989 to 2003.

PSRA was a commercial research business. Pew Research Center is a nonprofit institution. They should not be conflated.

Colasanto was an important professional collaborator and later became Kohut’s wife. This phase marked his transition from corporate executive to research-business founder.31、From newspaper-sponsored polling to philanthropic support

The immediate predecessor of modern Pew was the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press, created in 1990.

Kohut was its founding director of surveys and became director in 1993.

The newspaper connection provided public-interest questions and channels through which research could reach broader audiences.

Pew assumed support in the mid-1990s. Official histories differ slightly: the research center’s current history gives 1996 for sponsorship and renaming, while the parent institution’s history and 2004 announcement trace the relationship to 1995.

The careful formulation is that the transition occurred in 1995–1996, with official sources differing on the starting year.

32、The institutional turning point in 2004

The Pew Charitable Trusts established the consolidated Pew Research Center in 2004.

Its announcement identifies three dates:

Board approval on March 16.

Public announcement on April 27.

Operations beginning July 1.

Kohut became president, with journalist Paul Taylor as executive vice president.

The plan brought together political polling, internet, religion, Hispanic, global-attitudes, journalism, and Stateline initiatives. The journalism project was expected to join in 2006.

Kohut did not personally originate every component. His role was that of a foundational research leader and first president of the integrated institution.

Rebecca Rimel, then president and CEO of the parent organization, and its management also played important roles in funding and institutional design.

33、How the research projects connect

The projects expanded the institution’s understanding of public life:

People & the Press: politics, policy, and news.

Project for Excellence in Journalism, launched in 1997: journalism and news content.

Pew Internet & American Life Project, 1999: technology in everyday life.

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2001: religion’s social and political dimensions.

Pew Hispanic Center, 2001: Hispanic populations and social change.

Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2001: international public opinion.

Social & Demographic Trends, 2005: surveys combined with census and other data.

These historical labels should not all be treated as currently separate companies or as Kohut’s personal assets. They represent research traditions incorporated into a broader institution.

34、The origins of the Pew family fortune

Joseph Newton Pew Sr., who lived from 1848 to 1912, originated the family’s energy fortune.

Raised in a farming family in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, he worked as a teacher before entering oil and natural gas and building the Sun Oil business.

His wife, Mary Anderson, also came from a family connected with the early oil industry.

The first generation participated in industrial development rather than simply inheriting an established fortune. Their children subsequently benefited from substantial educational, business, and social resources.

This history explains the origin of philanthropic capital; it does not make today’s research center an operating division of an oil company.

35、The four philanthropic founders

Four children of Joseph and Mary established the charitable foundation in 1948:

J. Howard Pew.

Mary Ethel Pew.

Joseph Newton Pew Jr.

Mabel Pew Myrin.

Howard graduated from Grove City College in 1900 at 18, studied at MIT, and left to help develop the family’s refining business. He became Sun Oil president after his father’s death in 1912.

Joseph Jr. earned a Cornell mechanical-engineering degree in 1908 and became Sun Oil vice president in 1912.

Mary Ethel supported medical care and Red Cross work. Mabel’s interests included soil conservation and early-childhood education.

The philanthropic institution consequently reflected several founders’ interests rather than a single, uniform agenda.

36、Turning industrial wealth into lasting philanthropy

The Pew Memorial Foundation began in 1948 with 880,000 Sun Oil shares valued at approximately $50 million.

Its first grant was $30,000 to the American Red Cross. Early giving was anonymous, consistent with the family’s religious preference for quiet charity.

In 1957, assets moved into the Pew Memorial Trust. Seven charitable funds established between 1948 and 1979 became the long-term funding foundation.

Glenmede Trust Company, founded in 1956, professionalized trust administration.

The essential mechanism was the conversion of corporate wealth into durable charitable structures, supported by professional investment management and recurring philanthropic distributions.

37、Financial assets versus resources that generate influence

Four categories should be separated:

Historical industrial holdings associated with Sun Oil.

Charitable funds and investments.

Distinct commercial service businesses, including PSRA and Glenmede.

Research and reputational resources: datasets, historical series, methods, personnel, credibility, and media relationships.

The last category may not appear fully on a balance sheet, yet it is central to public influence.

Leading Pew did not mean Kohut personally owned it. The family’s funding history likewise does not establish that every research finding expresses a family member’s opinion.

38、Religion, education, and the family’s wider network

Howard Pew combined strong religious convictions with conservative views.

His associations included Grove City College and the evangelical publishing network around Billy Graham. He provided substantial early support to Christianity Today, founded in 1956.

These connections show how family wealth supported education and religious communication as well as charitable assistance.

Christianity Today is not a publication owned by Pew Research Center. Historians also caution against reducing Howard’s conservatism entirely to commercial self-interest: religious obligations influenced his choices.

39、The operating model

Pew Research Center states that:

Most funding comes from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Other philanthropists and institutions also support it.

Research is freely available.

It does not undertake consulting or contract research.

It receives no government or political-party funding.

It is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Funded research partnerships are different from commercial work commissioned by a client. The center states that it retains research autonomy.

Its operating logic is that philanthropic supporters fund the production of knowledge that others can use without paying.

40、The latest publicly linked financial filing

The latest Form 990 linked on the website covers July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025, and was made public in 2026.

Its figures include:

Revenue: $46,263,769.

Contributions and grants: $46,208,316.

Expenses: $48,184,088.

Revenue minus expenses: –$1,920,319.

Year-end assets: $49,845,415.

Year-end net assets: $46,896,086.

Compensation and employee benefits: $29,437,490.

Calculated from these figures, donations and grants supplied approximately 99.9% of revenue; personnel costs represented approximately 61.1% of expenses.

This is a substantial professional operation. Its capabilities reside in people and research systems, not merely its website.

A one-year deficit alone does not establish financial distress, and net assets should not be treated as entirely unrestricted cash.

41、The partnership network

Listed partners include the Knight Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Lilly Endowment, Templeton Religion Trust, Doris Duke Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, and others.

The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project has supported extensive research across more than 100 countries.

These relationships are not equity investments. Support does not by itself establish control of conclusions.

Analytically, partnerships supply resources for expensive research, connect subject specialists and users, and extend dissemination.

Funding concentration nevertheless creates a structural trade-off: stable support reduces pressure to chase traffic while increasing dependence on major philanthropic relationships.

42、How Kohut acquired public influence

Kohut helped extend polling internationally. Roper dates his collaboration with Madeleine Albright to a 1991 survey of 12 countries, including societies emerging from the Eastern Bloc.

He established the Global Attitudes Project in 2001. Roper’s retrospective biography records more than 340,000 interviews across 60 countries; that is a historical cumulative figure, not a current annual total.

His NPR and PBS appearances translated findings for broad audiences.

With Bruce Stokes, he published America Against the World in 2006, examining differences between American values, self-perceptions, and international views of the United States.

His contribution was to replace assumptions about public opinion with systematic evidence.

43、Connections to government and professional authority

Kohut’s archive documents presentations to the State Department and CIA concerning international views and public attitudes toward foreign policy.

These contacts demonstrate relevance to policymakers. They do not independently establish government funding, direction, or propaganda activity.

He also served in leadership roles at AAPOR and the National Council on Public Polls, received AAPOR’s highest honor in 2005, and won Roper’s Warren J. Mitofsky Award in 2014.

His authority combined research, peer recognition, and public communication rather than deriving from government office.

44、The underlying research infrastructure

The American Trends Panel, established in 2014, illustrates Pew’s institutional capabilities.

Its current description gives roughly 10,000 adults, recruited through probability sampling rather than open enrollment. Address-based recruitment began in 2018.

Since mid-2024, newly recruited members can participate online or by telephone. SSRS currently supports panel operations; earlier vendors included Abt, GfK, and Ipsos.

A continuing panel enables longitudinal research and lowers repeated recruitment costs.

It also requires managing attrition, nonresponse, and possible changes caused by repeated participation.

The durable advantage is an operational research system, not simply a list of respondents.

45、Examples of consequential research

Political polarization. The 2014 study, based on 10,013 adults and historical comparisons, found that consistently liberal or conservative responses on its values scale increased from 10% in 1994 to 21% in 2014. Ideological consistency should not be equated automatically with extremism.

Religion. The 2023–2024 Religious Landscape Study, released in 2025, found 62% identifying as Christian and 29% religiously unaffiliated. Earlier Christian shares were 78% in 2007 and 71% in 2014. The report also emphasized that recent decline had slowed and might have leveled off.

AI and search. A 2025 study examined 900 adults’ browsing records and 68,879 unique Google searches. Traditional-result clicks occurred on 8% of visits with AI summaries versus 15% without them. These are observational differences, not proof that AI caused every website to lose half its traffic.

46、Controversies and limitations

Kohut’s interpretation of polling errors. After the 2008 New Hampshire Democratic primary, his discussion of nonresponse, class, and racial attitudes drew criticism, including from John Judis, over the evidence for a racial explanation.

Representativeness. In 2021, Pew examined declining unweighted Republican representation in newer panel recruitments and revised benchmarking and weighting procedures.

Limits of weighting. Its 2026 methodological guidance explains that obtaining the correct Republican proportion cannot fix a sample whose Republican respondents are themselves unrepresentative.

Generational labels. In 2023, Pew revised its approach to emphasize comparisons at similar life stages and avoid confusing age differences with inherent generational characteristics.

Donor intent. Some conservative commentators argue that the broader Pew philanthropic institution departed from its founders’ ideology. This is a contested governance criticism, not proof of fabricated research or a finding that a specific survey was manipulated.

47、Current leadership and legacy

Kohut died on September 8, 2015, aged 73, after suffering from leukemia.

Memorial material dates his presidency to 2004–2012; the institutional history places succession in 2013. Describing the handover as occurring around the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013 preserves that distinction.

Alan Murray became the second president. Michael Dimock succeeded him in October 2014 and remains listed as president at the time of this research. Robert M. Groves is the listed board chair.

The board oversees leadership selection, finances, integrity, and scholarly independence. Senior staff are prohibited from partisan political activity even in their private time.

Kohut’s enduring achievement is an institution capable of succession. Its continuity depends on research practices and organizational competence rather than his continuing personal presence.

48、Timeline and practical lessons

The main milestones are:

• 1848–1912: Joseph Newton Pew Sr. builds the family’s energy fortune.

• 1942: Kohut is born.

• 1948: Four Pew siblings establish the charitable foundation.

• 1956–1957: Glenmede is established and charitable assets move into trust structures.

• 1964–1966: Kohut completes college, undertakes graduate study, then joins Gallup.

• 1979–1989: Gallup president.

• 1989: Co-founds PSRA.

• 1990–1993: Joins the Times Mirror project and becomes its director.

• 1995–1996: Transition to Pew support.

• 2001: Global Attitudes and other initiatives begin.

• 2004: Consolidated Pew Research Center established.

• 2012–2014: Leadership passes from Kohut to Murray to Dimock.

• 2014: ATP begins.

• 2015: Kohut dies.

• 2023: Generational-analysis framework revised.

• 2024 onward: Survey participation methods continue evolving alongside AI-related research.

The following are analytical lessons drawn from the evidence:

First, the scarce capability is producing credible evidence repeatedly. Articles are readily copied; comparable historical data and dependable research systems are much harder to reproduce.

Second, free access still requires substantial funding. Pew’s public availability rests on major annual expenditure and sustained philanthropic support.

Third, credibility needs inspectable institutions. Published methods, governance rules, and correction are more meaningful than simply claiming neutrality, although none guarantees perfect results.

Fourth, a founder’s greatest achievement can be an organization rather than personal wealth. Kohut helped make rigorous research and public communication institutionally sustainable.

For your ABAB NEWS or encyclopedia projects, the transferable approach is to choose a narrow subject, accumulate original and verifiable information, distinguish editorial decisions from sponsorship, and make sources traceable. Becoming a dependable source on a specific problem is a more achievable foundation for lasting influence than attempting comprehensive coverage immediately.