Joan Brown Campbell

The Reverend Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, at the tender age of 93, passed peacefully on March 29, 2025. It was the final chapter of an extraordinary life. 

Joan was born in November 1931, in Youngstown, Ohio. She graduated from Boardman High School and attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a degree in Speech and English. She earned the honor as top woman debater at the U of M. She met and married Paul Barton Campbell, who was studying law at the University of Michigan Law School. 

Their first child, Jane Louise Campbell, was born in 1953 in Ann Arbor. Jane became a successful and dedicated politician and public servant. She was elected to several prominent offices, culminating in her election as the first and to date only female mayor of Cleveland, in 2001. She is currently the Executive Director of the United States Capitol Historical Society and resides in Washington DC and Cleveland, Ohio. After finishing their education at Michigan, the couple moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio and Paul joined the firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey in Cleveland, where he stayed for 45 years and became a senior partner. 

They had two more children. Their first son, Paul Barton Campbell, Jr, recently retired as a senior head of the International Baccalaureate Organization, overseeing IB‘s work with schools, school districts, governments, and universities in the Americas. Their youngest child, James W Campbell MD is a beloved family practice doctor with a specialty in geriatrics. He recently retired after a long career serving patients in Cleveland. He was the director and founder of the MetroHealth Senior Health and Wellness Center and a professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University. 

While raising her family, Joan’s faith led her to became deeply involved in social issues in the Cleveland area. Her home became a crossroads for various activists, particularly those involved in the quest for racial justice and the end to the Vietnam war. Amongst many other causes, Joan worked hard to help Clevelanders elect the first black mayor of a major American city, the Honorable Carl Stokes, in 1967. After she and Paul divorced in 1974, Joan devoted her energies to the ecumenical movement. At age 49, the National Baptist Church, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s denomination, was first to ordain Joan to Christian ministry. Soon after, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) recognized her ordination. She was later also ordained by the American Baptist Church. She was the first woman to serve as the assistant executive director of the Greater Cleveland Interchurch Council. She was the first woman to serve as the executive director of the US office of the World Council of Churches. She was the first ordained woman to serve as the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. She was the first woman to serve as the director of religion at the Chautauqua Institution. In these various roles, Reverend Campbell participated in several high profile causes and events. She let a delegation to meet with Pope John Paul II, to present His Holiness with a copy of New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. She was part of the delegation led by President William Clinton to attend the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. Along with her friend, Reverend Jesse Jackson, she traveled to Belgrade during the Balkan wars and negotiated the release of imprisoned American soldiers, working with the Serbian Orthodox Church. She and Carl Sagan, the renowned astronomer, helped cofound the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. She served as an election observer when Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa. She was the only woman in the procession of over 200 clergy at the enthronement of Desmond Tutu as the archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa. Towards the end of her tenure the National Council of Churches, A young Cuban boy named Elian Gonzalez survived a shipwreck and ended up in the home of relatives in Miami. Working with the Clinton administration, the Cuban government, and the Cuban churches, she helped negotiate Elian’s safe return to his family in Cuba. Archbishop Tutu called Joan “a woman of courage and compassion. She helped put an end to the evil of apartheid. “ 

She won numerous awards. Amongst them were the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom award from the Interfaith Alliance. She has been inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame and the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame. She has received 14 honorary degrees from institutions as diverse as Wake Forest University, Saint Bonaventure University, and Monrovia University in Liberia. 

Despite these accolades, Joan was happiest when she was gathered with friends and family around a table, celebrating a holiday or just the chance to be with those closest to her. She was a marvelous cook, and a woman of passion, purpose, and appetite for life.

 Besides her three children, Joan is survived by eight grandchildren – Jessica Merrill (Tyler), Katie Campbell-Morrison, Alexander Campbell (Meg), Julie Campbell, Erin Campbell, Lucy Campbell (Bailey), Ryan Campbell, and Sarah Campbell Harris Tran (Alex). She has four great grandchildren with a fifth on the way. In 2017, at age 86, Joan married the Reverend Albert Pennybacker, who had been both her long-time mentor and partner in engaging organized religion in a collective response to injustice. “Penny” predeceased her in 2022. 

In lieu of, flowers or gifts, her family has asked that you direct your generosity towards the African American house at the Chautauqua Institution and/or the James W Campbell, MD Endowment in Geriatric Medicine through the MetroHealth foundation.

A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, April 27th at 4 pm in Plymouth Church of Shaker Heights, 2860 Coventry Road, 44120.