Michael S. Joyce (July 5, 1942 – February 24, 2006) was an American conservative activist.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Joyce was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 5, 1942.^[2][4][5] He grew up in a family of blue-collar Catholic Democrats.^[3] He attended Kent State University briefly and then transferred to Cleveland State University, where he graduated with a B.A. degree in history and philosophy in 1967.^[2][3][4][5] In 1974, he received a Ph.D. in education from Walden University.^[2][4][5]

His first job was as a high school history teacher in Cleveland.^[2][3][4][5] In 1968, he took a job at the Educational Research Council of America, which produced high school textbooks in history and government courses.^[2][3][4][5]

In 1975, he started his career in philanthropy as chairman of the Goldseker Foundation in Baltimore.^[2][3][5] In 1978, he headed the Institute for Educational Affairs, a not-for-profit educational organization chaired by Irving Kristol and William E. Simon.^[2][3][5]

In 1979, he was appointed executive vice president of the John M. Olin Foundation, where he served until 1985.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} During his tenure, he helped launch the Federalist Society, a group of conservative and libertarian lawyers, the Collegiate Network, a consortium of conservative student publications at American colleges, and The New Criterion, a conservative journal of arts and intellectual life.^[3] In 1980, he served on President Ronald Reagan's transition team.^[2][4][5] As such, he co-authored a chapter on the arts and humanities endowments for The Heritage Foundation, leading to the appointment of William Bennett as President Reagan's Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.^[2] His work at the Olin Foundation is credited with further influencing the policies of the Reagan administration.^[4]

From 1985 to 2001, he served as chairman of the Bradley Foundation headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} He helped launch the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.^[3] He supported the school choice movement in the US.^[1][2] In 1993, he and William Kristol established the Project for the Republican Future, an organization to regain the Congress and the presidency.^[2][5] It played a role in the 1994 healthcare debate during the Clinton administration and in the 1994 victory in Congressional elections.^[2]

In 2001, he was encouraged by President George W. Bush and Senior Advisor Karl Rove to lead Americans for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprises, advancing Bush's agenda of faith based initiatives.^[2][5] He also co-founded the Foundation for Community and Faith-Centered Enterprise, headquartered in Phoenix.^[2] He later became a principal with Practical Strategies, Inc., a public policy consulting firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin.^[2] He was the first Chairman of the Philanthropy Roundtable and helped establish the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal.^[3] He sat on the Boards of Directors of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Harp & Eagle, the Pinkerton Foundation, the Foundation for Cultural Review, the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and the Clare Booth Luce Fund.^[2] He was a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.^[2]

Irving Kristol called him "the godfather of modern philanthropy".^[2]

He retired on Big Cedar Lake in West Bend, Wisconsin.^[2] He was married and had three children.^[2][4] He died of liver disease in a hospice in Germantown, Wisconsin on February 24, 2006.^[1][4][5]

• Appearances on C-SPAN