Pilkington was also active in numerous institutional roles. He was chairman of the Society of London Art Dealers (1974-77) at a crucial time, and later a governor of Wimbledon School of Art. Related closely to the Pilkington glass family company, he was a trustee of the Rainsford Trust, which promoted the Arts with its own gallery in St Helens, the company town: this has now been renamed in his honour as the Godfrey Pilkington Gallery.

Pilkington was a familiar figure, even in his seventies, bicycling from his home in West London, with raincoat and woollen cap, to Cork St, and sometimes to his St James's club, the Athenaeum. On one occasion, latterly, he was knocked down on such a journey, but survived. David Hockney caught his sparkle and avuncular pose in a fine portrait sketch. He will be sorely missed.