P. Joseph Campisi, Jr. succumbed to his six-year battle with thymus cancer on February 1, 2024, in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 62.

Joseph was born and raised on Long Island, New York.  He was the first in his family to attend and graduate from college, having chosen to study at St. John's University.  He played four years of varsity football at St. John's, serving as a linebacker, offensive lineman and offensive guard, and he was named an All Metropolitan Conference Student Athlete in 1983.  He also excelled in his studies, making the academic dean's list, and received his degree in May 1983 with a bachelor of science in accounting.

Joseph's next educational stint continued at St. John's University, where he earned an MBA in December 1988.

During this time, Joseph worked for two years, from August 1984 to July 1986, at Touche Ross & Co. (known today as Deloitte) as an Audit Senior, performing financial audits, financial valuations and analyses.  He additionally became a New York state public accountant in September 1987.  But it was his next post-graduate endeavor, law school, that would ultimately redefine his career trajectory — and his life.

Joseph earned his Juris Doctor with distinction from Hofstra University in May 1989.  He ranked in the top three percent of his class, served on the school's law review and received certificates of excellence in taxation and secured transactions.  He would go on to be admitted to the New York Bar in 1990 and to the California Bar in 2000.

Upon graduating from law school, Joseph joined the New York law firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts (WSP&R) as an associate in October 1989.  He served in this role, working in a transactional practice within the company's Corporate Management group, for more than eight years before becoming a partner of the firm in January 1998.  While with WSP&R, he served in both the New York and London offices and was even a resident in the Hong Kong office for seven months in 1994.

In 1995, at the request of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Joseph was temporarily assigned to the global pharmaceutical company.  Although employed by WSP&R, he had primary duties in house at Bristol-Myers as a corporate staff attorney, reporting to the senior counsel with responsibility for the Corporate Development Group's legal services.  Following the merger of WSP&R with San Francisco-based Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro LLP in 2001, Joseph joined the firm's San Francisco office.  He left Pillsbury Winthrop in May 2003 to move to Princeton to join Bristol-Myers Squibb as Vice President and Associate General Counsel and later became Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of the company's Transactional Practice Group in 2016.  During his time at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Joseph was responsible for negotiating and closing dozens of high-profile deals and transactions for the company.

In 2019, Joseph left BMS to join Scorpion Therapeutics as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.  The company's mission — to help cancer patients with the development of precision oncology — resonated with him greatly as he navigated his own cancer journey.  He remained in that position until July 2021, when he joined Turnstone Biologics — whose mission centered around developing immunotherapies to treat and cure cancer patients — as Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

Joseph loved the law and being a practicing attorney, and he was known to have said he never worked a day in his life because he enjoyed what he did so much.  He was deeply admired and revered by his colleagues as someone who loved the written word, especially when logic and reasoning were involved, and who found a deep sense of purpose from the complex negotiations, as well as from the opportunities to advise and mentor others in his field and support a cause that was bigger than himself.  Joseph was a resident of Princeton for almost 20 years.  Early on in his time in Princeton, he became involved with the Princeton Girls Softball Association as a coach and went on to co-manage the league for several seasons.  He especially enjoyed inspiring and sharing his love of the game with his daughters and their friends in the Princeton girls' softball community.

Another element of Joseph's life was his love of music.  He played the saxophone for many years and learned to play the piano later in life.  He shared this interest with his daughters by supporting them in their own musical endeavors from an early age.  Joseph was also known for his distinctive sense of humor, his appreciation of a good cup of coffee and his lifelong allegiance to the Dallas Cowboys.

Joseph is survived by his wife, Judith Kirshner; his four daughters,  Jessica, Emma, Natalie, and Samantha Campisi; his mother, Ruth Campisi; and his brother, Chris Campisi.

Joseph's family hosted a remembrance gathering for friends and loved ones on February 4, 2024, at Kimble Funeral Home in Princeton.  A graveside service was held on February 6, 2024, at Taylor Memorial Cemetery in Howey-in-the Hills, Florida.

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