Former RHF President and CEO Joseph Dies at 87

UCC minister and affordable housing advocate the Rev. Dr. Laverne R. Joseph, 87, has died. The former president and CEO of Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF) passed away Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, after complications from a fall.

Joseph, who led RHF for 33 years, received numerous accolades throughout his life for his justice work in the UCC. He dedicated his life to advocacy, affordable housing, healthcare, and services for people in need.

When Joseph began his call at RHF in 1987, the organization operated 65 communities in 15 states. Under his visionary leadership, RHF grew into one of the nation’s most significant nonprofit housing organizations. When he retired in 2021, RHF owned, sponsored, and managed 197 communities across 29 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Laverne Joseph,” said the Rev. Bryan Sickbert, the Council for Health and Human Services Ministries’ (CHHSM) president and CEO from 1991 to 2014. “Laverne possessed a rare combination of keen entrepreneurial intellect and unwavering passion for the human service mission of the church.  He understood that the missional integrity of United Church of Christ Health and Human Service Ministries is rooted in and sustained by the faith community that is the church.  The witness of his life has been and will continue to be an example and inspiration to all who would aspire to servant leadership.”

Joseph didn’t start out to be a health and human service advocate. He didn’t even intend to be an ordained minister. Born Feb. 5, 1938, near Spring Grove, Pa., he was actively involved in music at his local church and school, and even conducted his own 19-piece orchestra during high school. His grade school aptitude tests always resulted in a three-way tie between music, religion, and business, and he used all three in his later ministry. He considered a career in music—but his local pastor changed his trajectory, as Joseph recounted in an article he wrote for RHF Today at his retirement in 2021:

One evening in my junior year before a program at the York Pennsylvania Country Day School, I stopped to visit my pastor because my parents were there. He asked, “What are you going to do when you graduate?” I replied, “I’m going to take my band on the road.” He said, “You ought to consider going to College and Seminary and becoming a pastor.” I had not thought of that, but I took it seriously and applied to Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., near Valley Forge, where my cousin was a student. 

Although active in music at UCC-related Ursinus, he graduated with a B.A. degree in history (1960) and enrolled in UCC-related Lancaster (Pa.) Theological Seminary, where he received his B.D. degree in 1964 (and, later, an M.Div. degree in 1974). During his time at Lancaster, Joseph met his wife, Ginger, then a theatre major at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, who later earned a B.S. degree in speech education and theatre arts (1962) at Texas Woman’s University. The two moved to Chicago so Laverne Joseph could pursue an additional graduate degree in Ethics in Society at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

From 1966 to 1987, Joseph served as pastor of Peace Memorial UCC in Palos Park, Ill. The 1,200-member congregation’s ministries included a housing and healthcare outreach. While at Peace Memorial, he oversaw the construction of two affordable housing communities and a continuing care retirement community. 

In Chicago, Joseph also served on the board of Evangelical Health Systems, now CHHSM member Advocate Health. He twice chaired its board and at various times chaired the strategic planning, audit, medical affairs, and executive committees. When his term ended, he was asked to join the board of RHF and, shortly thereafter, was asked to move to California to become president and CEO.

A sought-after speaker, Joseph frequently addressed professional organizations, service groups, and churches on housing and social service issues. His national influence was evident in his dozen appearances before various U.S. Senate and House Committees, where he advocated for legislation supporting affordable housing and essential services.

From 1984 to 1987, he was a member of the board, treasurer, and chair of the strategic planning committee of CHHSM. In 1993 and 1996, he was elected to the CHHSM board, and chaired the stewardship committee until 2001. He was re-elected to the board in 2016.

“Laverne was one of the UCC’s most passionate justice advocates,” said Mike Readinger, president and CEO of CHHSM from 2014 to 2022. “He dedicated his life to ensuring that every person, every family, had a place to call home, a calling that led to his remarkable impact on the affordable housing movement in this country.” 

Joseph was a former chairperson of the coordinating council of the Protestant Health and Human Services Assembly, the board of the American Protestant Health Association, and the president’s council of UCC-related Elmhurst (Ill.) College.

He was a former board member of the Chicago Community Renewal Society, the Chicago Metropolitan Association of the UCC, and the Kobe Japan College Stateside Corporation.

A committed servant-leader, Joseph served on numerous other boards and committees, including as a founding member and former chair of the National Affordable Housing Trust, which has generated more than $1 billion in funding for low-income housing. He was a founding member and served on the board, executive committee, and the underwriting committee of Caring Communities Risk Retention Group, a liability insurance company for nonprofits providing housing and health care services. He held leadership roles with LeadingAge, Aging Services of California, and various other nonprofit and faith-based organizations.

Joseph’s leadership and impact were recognized with numerous honors, including CHHSM’s first and only Advocacy Award (2002); LeadingAge’s Award of Honor (2008), its highest distinction; the Award of Honor from Aging Services of California (2010); induction into the Continuing Care Hall of Fame (2017); and the Pioneer in Affordable Housing Award from the Affordable Housing Management Association (2019). He also received multiple meritorious service awards and was honored for excellence in ministry beyond the local parish by Lancaster Seminary. He was elected to the American Seniors Housing Association’s Senior Living Hall of Fame in January 2025.

Joseph always said, “I believe in Providence,” and his life bore that out. He never sought a position but found that every position prepared him for the challenges of the next one, something he attributed to Providence.

“While I did not have the opportunity to meet Dr. Joseph personally, his extraordinary legacy lives on throughout CHHSM and in RHF’s ministry, which continues to touch thousands of lives across the nation,” said Jamar Doyle, current president and CEO of CHHSM. “I ask that we hold his family, the RHF community, and all who were blessed by his life and leadership in your prayers.”

The Rev. Dr. Laverne Joseph leaves behind his wife, Ginger, three children—daughter Kristen Wilks, CPA; son David, a vocal music director at a high school and music director at a local UCC church; and son Jonathan, senior director for a consumer electronics accessory manufacturer—and seven grandchildren.

His life will be celebrated in a memorial service at First UCC in Long Beach, Calif., in April. 

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to the Laverne R. Joseph Affordable Housing Fund.