After several people recommended I interview Marble Cliff resident Rob Joseph for this article, I met him at his home one December evening.
Joseph, who might be best known for serving as deacon at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Marble Cliff, was just as people described: warm, caring, humble, insightful and easy to talk to.
Born in Bethlehem, W.Va., Joseph moved to Pickerington with his family when he was 11. After graduating from Pickerington High School, he attended The Ohio State University, but found being a musician with an entrepreneurial spirit didn’t fit into the typical music media curriculum.
“I knew I wanted to be in the music business, but that type of success is elusive and subjective. I had to find my place in the world,” Joseph said.
So in 1984, Joseph joined the U.S. Air National Guard, and about the same time, “a light bulb went on,” he said. “I came to the realization that if I sought God’s will for my life, I’d always be happy.”
Photo courtesy of Rob Joseph
Soon thereafter, Joseph met his wife, Krista, at church. They married in 1987. The couple moved to an apartment on Broadview Avenue, because Krista had grown up in Grandview Heights.
“I think I fell in love with Grandview as much as I did Krista,” Joseph joked.
The Josephs lived in Clintonville and Upper Arlington before moving to Marble Cliff on Cambridge Boulevard in 2009, when their son, Max, was about to enter high school.
“We’ve been happy ever since,” Joseph said.
Grandview Heights City Schools were an ideal fit for Max, now 21 years old and a junior at Wittenberg University, and for Alexandra, 17, a junior at Grandview Heights High School.
Joseph has always been a self-professed “gear head.” This passion, along with his experience in music and production, sparked a new career path in the early 1990s. Joseph started his own firm in 2000. MusicMax Inc., with offices on Hess Street (off King Avenue), continues to grow. The company is contracted as manufacturers’ representatives for 22 professional audio and lighting companies, and acts as their outsourced sales and marketing team. Clients include A/V contractors, retailers and production companies throughout the Midwest.
“As a result, I spend a lot of time traveling and am blessed to call many iconic names within our industry – people I have long admired – my friends,” Joseph said.
Krista joins her husband on some trips when her schedule allows her to step away from her work as director of religious education at Our Lady of Victory.
“Hitting the sales numbers and making it all happen keeps the pressure on,” said Joseph. “I’m not complaining. We are very blessed and grateful for our successes and never take them for granted.”
Joseph’s faith vocation is also important to him. He studied at the Pontifical College Josephinum and was ordained a deacon in the Catholic Church in late 2008.
“Being a deacon is not about what I do, but who I am,” Joseph said. “It’s hard to put into words, but this vocation speaks to the very core of my being. It’s a calling that permits me to assist at Mass and also preach about how I see God at work every day. Being a deacon allows me the great honor to be an ambassador of Christ to people during their best and worst times.”
As clergy, he can marry, bury, baptize and preside at prayer services, but he doesn’t consecrate the host during Mass or hear confessions.
In his spare time Joseph still plays the guitar and drums, but not professionally, as he once did. He’s retired from the Reagonomics, a popular local band he started in 1996. He serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Music Merchants, the international trade association of the music products industry.
Despite his busy life, Joseph manages to stay positive about his different duties.
“I consider my responsibilities a privilege, not a burden,” he said. “It is not lost on Krista and I what a blessing it is to be in the Marble Cliff/Grandview area. There is simply no better place to live in central Ohio. It’s the area and life that we dreamed of.”
Bill Johannes is the administrative assistant for the Village of Marble Cliff. Feedback welcome at ssole@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Related Reads
Pastor grows church with triathlons
