Obituary of Edward Joseph

Ed Joseph was also known in his life as Dad, Pop, Jidoo, Eddie, Mr. "J", Uncle Ed, Brother, and Edward, but no matter what name was used you would always find a humble, hospitable, fun-loving, easy-going man who we were proud and fortunate to have in our lives.

Born in New Kensington PA on May 28, 1924 to George and Mary Joseph he was the youngest child born to Syrian immigrants. His siblings were Lydia Hubbard, Minerva Hobbs, Jean Olsen, Josephine Tracy, Virginia Barham, and Louis Joseph.

He attended Saint George Orthodox Church quite regularly through the years and had a strong faith in God. He was proud being a part of the church and community and proud of his parents who made their way to America from Syria and worked hard to support a large family through their corner market.

Dad was a professional, responsible family man and man of the community. He always knew somebody somewhere and always made them feel important and loved. His creative art side was always apparent in everything he did from caring for his home, to his career, in his volunteerism in neighborhood committees, to the creative way of bringing up his family and his teachings of life to his children.

He worked in the commercial art field for four decades and lectured in colleges after graduating from the Philadelphia Museum College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Dad was employed by The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Bell of Pennsylvania and retired from Bell Atlantic. He was very well known in the advertising and graphic art industry as a prominent, award-winning Art Director, who led numerous design projects in Philadelphia. These projects included designing both white and yellow-page phone book covers for the tri-state area, as well as, annual reports and other corporate projects for these companies, their affiliates, and other local businesses throughout his career.

Dad was a very detailed, charming and patient man who only saw the good in people and positive in bad situations. He never had a bad word to say about anyone and brought us up on "keep hope alive", "there is nothing constant but change", and "life is what you make it". Oh yeah, and "it takes time my boy it takes time" as he puffed on his invisible cigar.

Dad loved to travel and loved to experience life. He was fiercely independent and spoke two languages. Dad served in WWII as an Army Medic in Western Europe. He survived a U-boat attack on his transport fleet, arrived via landing craft at the infamous invasion on the coast of Normandy, and received infantry training prior to heading in box-cars to the Battle of the Bulge.

His family were the most important people in his life. Dad would do anything for any of them without hesitation. He was consistent and equal with his love and always full of humor and admiration in his heart. Whenever you were down he would resort to singing old songs to lift your spirits that would give you inspiration. He is survived by his wife Shirley A Joseph, daughter Suzanne L. (Joseph) Roberge, son Scott G. Joseph, and granddaughter Lydia S. Roberge. Ed is also survived by nieces Lori Hernandez, Jean Hobbs, Jackie Walters, Tammy Sarratt and nephew Michael Hobbs and their families.

Special shout-out to the following deceased: niece Shirley Mae Barham, nephew Richard Barham and son-in-law Bennett Roberge.

Funeral services will be private.