Dr. Robert H. Joseph Biography

Dr. Robert H. Joseph, to whom one of our annual lectures is dedicated, was one of 19 physicians who created the Riverside Medical Clinic Foundation in 1984 and endowed it with ownership of the original clinic building and property at the Riverside Medical Clinic’s Arlington Avenue campus.

Dr. Joseph was an ophthalmologist whose entire 25 years of practice were served at the Riverside Medical Clinic. A native of Saginaw, Michigan, Dr. Joseph was a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Medicine where he received his medical degree in 1954. Following two years of medical service in the US Air Force, he returned to the University of Michigan Hospitals for his residency in ophthalmology and then joined the Riverside Medical Clinic.

One year after the Foundation was created, Dr. Joseph died of cancer at the young age of 56. In his will he had established a charitable remainder trust for his wife, which stipulated that the trust assets were to be turned over to the Foundation in the event of her death. Tragically, Mrs. Joseph passed away just six months following the death of her husband.

As a permanent tribute to Dr. Joseph, the Riverside Medical Clinic Foundation established the annual Dr. Robert H. Joseph Memorial Lecture. The Foundation is pleased to have the support of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph’s children for this yearly lecture: Janet Fell, Kathy Patton, Bob Joseph, Jr., and Libby Jaehnig. Libby served as a past Trustee for the Riverside Medical Clinic Foundation, and Kathy has served on the Foundation’s Program Development Committee.