Michael S. Joyce, a leading voice in the conservative movement and in related philanthropic efforts involving education and other fields, died Feb. 24. He was 63.
Mr. Joyce retired in 2001 as the chief executive officer of the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, which he joined in 1985. He served as the executive director of the John M. Olin Foundation from 1979 to 1985. In those positions, he helped spend millions of dollars on causes including school choice, welfare reform, and faith-based initiatives.
Mr. Joyce once said the shortcomings of the great social programs of the 1960s were a “huge disappointment” to him and had helped shape his views. He helped finance influential thinkers such as Allan Bloom, the author of The Closing of the American Mind, which lamented the state of higher education, and Charles Murray, who wrote Losing Ground, a critique of welfare.
