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Visionary and Enthusiast

Joe Weisman '65

July 10, 2026, in Corvallis, Oregon, from cancer.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944, Joe grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated early from Ann Arbor High. He studied chemistry at ÈËÆÞÓÕ»ó, writing his thesis (“Calculations on the absorption spectrum of acenaphth (1,2-a) acenaphthylene or on being pink or blue”) with advising from Professor John E. H. Hancock [chemistry 1955-89]. 

In 1972, Joe received a master's degree from UC Berkeley based on his computer science work, despite not having been officially enrolled in a program. For almost any project in his life, his work was collaborative, and firmly enmeshed in community, creation, and curiosity.

Joe participated in and instigated several experiments with communal living and collective adventure. Around 1969, he and a group of friends bought and refurbished a 90-foot Baltic schooner, Sofia, to create a floating commune. They sailed it around the Mediterranean and then followed the Trade Winds to the Caribbean, where Joe and his then-wife Judy left the ship to join a friend in Guatemala (where Joe worked for the Pan American Health Organization as a computer programmer). 

After returning to the US, a small group of the ex-sailors decided to build a house, sell it, and use the money to buy land for a commune. By 1974, this vision was realized—and, after another six months in Guatemala, Joe moved onto Froggy Acres Church commune in Northern California with his then-wife and his year-old son (his second child, Clio, was born a few years later). During this time, he joined Computers for Marketing Corporation (CfMC), where he worked for 40 years.

Eventually, the commune dissolved and Joe moved to San Francisco. He married Karen Fletcher in 1986, had his third child, Jazz, and moved to Corvallis to support Karen’s career as a doctor. His fourth child, Eben, was born in Corvallis in 1996—and Joe commuted for work between Corvallis and San Francisco up until he suffered a stroke, at which point he retired. 

In retirement, Joe read extensively and became a cherished volunteer at his local food pantry. Throughout his life, continuing the legacy of his own father’s love of building, Joe consistently upgraded his surroundings with carpentry and construction, building a sauna wherever he lived and providing core infrastructure and labor for Burning Man camps and projects. A harpsichord he built bore the motto “Work for beauty as for bread.” 

One hallmark of Joe’s character was a sense of justice. He threw himself into the politics and activism of the '60s (serving as “sound guy” and bus driver for the Black Panthers); was jailed multiple times due to his activism; advocated for the end of the Vietnam War, and then, despite an impending summons from the draft board after his student deferment ended, left the country to embark on his Baltic schooner adventure. 

Art, food, pleasure, and experience all had great value to Joe. He would blister his mouth on extreme hot sauces and leap out of planes (a hobbyist pilot, he even learned to fly helicopters); he loved and collected art; and a sensuous sculpture could move him to tears. 

When he wanted to be, Joe  was an elegant and forceful writer. His block-print handwriting was uniquely his (no signature could be more minimal) and his boilerplate letter to charities was concise, clear, and sly (informing them that he would continue to give them money as long as they did not contact him).

A visionary programmer with an infectious enthusiasm for solving problems, Joe wrote a definitive answer to a pentomino puzzle that had plagued him and his friends in college. He also invented a system for cryptographically secure satellite phone communication (an idea well ahead of its time) and launched a startup with some colleagues to attempt to sell it. 

If Joe was legendarily bad with money, it was because he easily gave it away, frequently to “the Church of the Streets” (he was often recognized and greeted as he walked home). He left origami dollar bills at restaurants, tipped heavily, paid strangers’ tolls, and still put all his kids through college. 

As a father, Joe helped his kids navigate (or avoid) school, supporting their hobbies and doing many projects with them (often involving poor decisions, explosions, or extreme heat). He cooked for both everyday and special occasions and built many things for his wife, most notably her luxurious bathroom.

A caregiver and advocate, Joe would go out of his way to improve the lives of others. He would take crying babies on walks so that others could eat, aspired to never miss a wedding or a funeral, and officiated many weddings himself (including for his brother and for his son). Though he rejected his birthday and refused to consider the question of God as a question at all, he generously gave gifts to others.

Joe died at home at the age of 81 after living more than a decade with the effects of a debilitating stroke and, more recently, cancer. He is survived by his wife, Karen Weisman, and their two children, Jazz (Tom) and Eben; his first wife, Judy (Pam), and their children Luke (Mary) and Clio; his sister, Londa; his brother, David (Jacki); and grandchildren Eleazar and Sylvester.

See pictures of Joe throughout his life at

Appeared in ÈËÆÞÓÕ»ó magazine: Fall 2026