Joseph Wyeth Fenwick, III, D.D.S., M.P.H.

Joseph Wyeth Fenwick III, D.D.S., M.P.H was born on December 19, 1931 in Washington, DC to the loving marital union of Joseph Wyeth Fenwick, Jr. (an Ammunition Assembler at the Navy Yard in Washington DC and pianist who studied music at Wilberforce University in Ohio) and Theresa (nee Johnson) Fenwick. Theresa died of meningitis when Joe was 18 months old. So, he was raised by his maternal grandmother (Mrs. Theresa Johnson), and an aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. William (and Bertha) Thompson in the tight-knit Kingman Park neighborhood in northeast Washington, DC. Joe loved growing up in Kingman Park often sharing with his children that his neighborhood had everything (including Langston Golf Course, inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame). Kingman Park was a beautiful, self-contained, strong community deeply influenced by the nearby presence of Howard University.

As a child, Joe was baptized at Calvary Episcopal Church where he served as an altar boy. Later, after marrying his wife (Glenda Faye Ward Fenwick) who was a lifelong and devout Catholic, Joe would complete catechism and convert to Catholicism. Joe and Faye raised their children in Gesu Catholic Church and were members for 55 years of its 103 years of existence.

Joe’s family was profoundly committed to his receiving the best schooling available to him as a child. The high aspirations cultivated at home reverberated through his schools. He attended two schools known at that time (nationally and in Washington DC) to be academically superior - Charles Young Elementary School named for the third African American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and first African American to achieve the rank of colonel in the United States Army. Later, he attended Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School named for the poet. The famed Dunbar High School was widely known as Washington DC’s premier academic high school producing African American graduates who attended historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and were the firsts to attend and graduate summa cum laude from Amherst College, Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania. In these schools, Joe experienced exceptionally credentialed African American principals and teachers who as he said “were a unique and irreplaceable generation, superior in every way.” They inspired him to be like them - “intelligent, poised, knowledgeable about African American history, consummate readers, and politically active, strong people who broke barriers and uplifted the community.” He often bragged about his schools to his children and all who would listen. “Remember,” he would say, “Dr. Carter G. Woodson the second African American after WEB DuBois to earn a PhD at Harvard and the Father of Black History taught at Dunbar!”

The outstanding cultural and academic socialization that Joe received at Charles Young Elementary School and Dunbar High School, along with the modeling and support from his family and Kingman Park neighbors, caused him to be a serious student. At Dunbar, while cleaning up the chemistry lab with other students after class in his senior year, his teacher, Mr. Curtis, told him that there would be a great need for science teachers in the nation and that as a science honor student he should consider that career. So, upon graduating from Dunbar, Joe attended Miner Teachers College in Washington DC (now located on the campus of Howard University) and in 1954 earned his bachelor's degree (in science education) with high honors.

After graduation, Joe taught eight years in Washington DC Public Schools and was named a Science Teacher of the Year during his tenures at Eastern High School and Woodson Junior High School. During the summers between academic years, Joe was recipient of several National Science Foundation (NSF) public school science teacher fellowships that supported his love of science and graduate coursework at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (zoology and plant ecology), Morgan State University (chemistry and physics), Ball State University (molecular biology), and Kansas State University (earth science).

On December 20, 1960, Joe married Glenda Faye Ward, a public health nurse who graduated from Freedmen’s School of Nursing (now, Howard University School of Nursing and Allied Health). They met while both were young professionals living in Kingman Park. Faye was Joe’s beautiful (inside and out), talented, and memorable wife for more than 60 years until her passing on March 25, 2020. Together they raised their five children: Russell Craig, Leslie Theresa, John Robert, Jason Wyeth, and Justin Ward (now, Chike Akua). The Fenwick family home in historic Westmoreland was filled with lots of love, laughter, fun, stacks of books about every subject in the arts, literature, and science, Black newspapers and history journals, and music. Joe and Faye were jazz aficionados and had heard all the greats perform live and in-person including Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Ahmad Jamal among others. They were also long-term patrons of the arts in Toledo, Chicago, and Washington DC supporting the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, Lucille’s Jazz Club, the Peacock Lounge, and Blue’s Alley.

In 1963, Joe decided to translate his love of science into becoming a dentist. He was accepted to three Schools of Dentistry: Howard University (Washington, DC), Meharry Medical College (Nashville, TN), and the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA). He chose Meharry Medical College and graduated with his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree in 1967. He then went on to complete an internship in oral maxillofacial surgery at Sydenham Hospital - the first municipal hospital in New York City to permit African American doctors to admit their patients.

From New York City, the family moved to Toledo, Ohio where Joe worked at the Toledo Dental Dispensary (providing dental care and oral health services for those with limited financial means) while commuting to Ann Arbor, Michigan to earn a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) degree.

After earning his MPH, Joe began a 27-year career at the City of Toledo Health Department. He was initially appointed as the Director of Dental Services. Then became Deputy Health Commissioner and later Health Commissioner. He was one of the Nation’s and Ohio’s first African American (large) City Health Commissioners. His tenures were marked by increased federal grant programs and funding for maternal and child health, migrant farmer workers, HIV/AIDS, and many other innovative initiatives and outreach.

In the early seventies, Joe and a group of nine African American men (including physicians in a variety of subspecialties, dentists, an optometrist, a pharmacist, and a lawyer who became a judge) made Toledo history. They collaborated to fund and build Drew-Hale Professional Building (the building still stands at the corner of Monroe Street and Lawrence Avenue). Drew-Hale was named after the famed Black physicians, Charles Drew, who pioneered blood banking, saving millions of lives during World War II and beyond and Daniel Hale Williams, the first doctor to successfully perform open-heart surgery. Drew-Hale served Toledo’s community for decades and became a hub for quality medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and legal services. Profoundly altruistic, Joe often treated low-income patients free of charge to ensure that they received the dental care they needed. He worked at the health department during the day, and worked in his private dental practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons.

Throughout his career and life, he mentored many African Americans, women, and others into careers in medicine, dentistry, nursing, and public health. He was acknowledged for these and other efforts to advance health care equity with awards from the American Public Health Association, National Dental Association (NDA), American Dental Association (ADA), National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) among others.

Despite his demanding work schedule, Joe was a deeply devoted husband and father who treasured his time with his wife and children. He was home for dinner every evening, attended his children’s football and basketball games and practices and, along with Faye, always exemplified high standards, character, structure, discipline, and “grit” (one of his favorite words). He would have lengthy conversations (often traced with humorous stories) with his children providing them sound advice and guidance on college and graduate school, career choices, marriage and child-rearing, and life in general. With his children, he was an eternal optimist and consummate encourager who stressed and modeled healthy independence of mind and spirit.

Throughout his life, Joe enjoyed reading and travel. He combined his affection for both by planning numerous trips for his wife to their favorite European cities: Paris, France; London and Oxford, England; Rome and Milan, Italy; and Lake Lugano, Switzerland among others. Though he never made it to the continent of Africa, he took great interest and pride in his children who traveled to Senegal, Egypt, and Ghana.

Joe established a tradition of family road trips to Ann Arbor for University of Michigan football games (where he held season tickets for 41 years). There were also annual family vacations to Chicago and Montreal for jazz festivals, Mackinac Island, Michigan, and to his beloved hometown, Washington, DC.

Joe loved his family, his profession, and the opportunity to serve. He lived his 93 years to its fullest. He was very proud to be in his nineties, never hospitalized or on prescription medicines, healthy and independent. He outlived many of his doctors, some of whom even sought his advice on health and longevity. He once remarked, “I’m just a kid from Kingman Park in Washington DC who God blessed with a good life.”

The Bible says, "The just man walks in his integrity: his children are blessed after him" (Proverbs 20:7). Dr. Fenwick is survived by his five children who adored him and try to carry forward all he bequeathed them: Russell Craig, Leslie Theresa (H. Patrick Swygert), John Robert, Jason Wyeth and Justin Ward (now Chike/ Willette Akua) seven grandchildren, Ileana, Olivia, and Jason (Jr.) Fenwick, Jaelyn (Christopher Moses) and Jenna Fenwick, Jahbari and Amari Akua; two great grandchildren, Kaiden and Autumn Moses; a host of special nieces and nephews; and, dear friends especially those who enjoyed with him performances by the Toledo Symphony (TSO) and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra (TJO), and concerts at Valentine Theater, Lucille’s Jazz Club, and the Peacock Lounge.

The family will receive guests Saturday, August 30, 2025 from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. at Newcomer SW Chapel, 4752 Heatherdowns Blvd., Toledo (419-381-1900). The Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, August 30, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at Gesu Catholic Church, 2049 Parkside Blvd., Toledo, OH 43607. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Dr. Joseph Wyeth Fenwick, III Endowed Scholarship at Meharry Medical College.