Joseph A. Thompson's Biography

Joseph “Joe” A. Thompson was born in Staunton, Virginia and moved to the Bronx with his parents, two older siblings and one younger sister at the age of five. Graduating from Morris High School in 1957, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1958, serving as a Radar Operator until he was honorably discharged in 1961.

In 1962, he joined the New York City Police Department and was appointed the following year to the Vice Squad (plain clothes unit). After being promoted to the rank of detective in 1967, he worked in various other squads throughout the City until his medical discharge in 1977, which he had received due to a in-the-line-of-duty gunshot wound early in his career. In his off-time, he took college courses and performed stand-up comedy at Big Wilt’s Small’s Paradise, the Improv, the Carnegie Recital Hall and other venues. He married his wife, Gladys Osorio, in 1969.

During a visit to Staunton in the mid-1960s, Joe integrated a local segregated diner and convinced a fellow African-American to break a social taboo by bowling at the for-whites-only bowling alley. To the surprise of Joe’s friend, they were allowed to play more than one game. In 1977, Joe became the first full-time African-American life insurance agent in New York for the number one-rated agency in the United States, Northwestern Mutual. In 2008, he was an elected delegate for Barack Obama’s candidacy for President, signing the primary voting document at the Democratic National Convention in Colorado. This is still a very proud moment for Joe. In all of his years, he never thought he would live to see the day when an African-American would become President of the United States.

Joe began his community service work in 1987, starting as a manager for the Pelham Parkway Little League (PPLL), becoming its Vice President in 1989, a position which he still holds today. In 1999, he co-founded the Allerton/Pelham Parkway Community Mobil Patrol and was its president for the first eight years. Appointed to the Community Board in 1997, he was elected Second Vice Chair in 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was a member of the Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation’s Board of Directors. From 2005 to 2011, he chaired the Board of Directors for the Bronx Rebels Youth Football League.

In addition to his duties at the Board (which have included chairing the Economic Development and Bronx Park East/Olinville Committees) and the PPLL, Joe currently serves as President of the 49th Precinct Community Council, Executive Director of the White Plains Road Business Improvement District, a facilitator for the 49th Precinct Clergy Council, and a member of the Einstein College Institutional Review Board and the Einstein-Montefiore Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee.

Joe has received awards and recognition from many civic organizations, elected officials, religious institutions, youth groups, and the media. He feels fortunate to have found mentors and partners in every phase of his life. “Without the aid from those many people who are dedicated to fairness, helping their fellow man and having true friendships,” Joe says, “he would have accomplished very little—if anything—in life.”

Joe has lived in Community Board 11 for over 47 years. Together with his wife, he has two children and two grandchildren.