Joseph was born May 14, 1959 to Joseph Robert Sr. and Nancy Martin Sweeney in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a 1977 graduate of Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas and a 1982 graduate of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He served in the United States Navy from 1983-1987 and received an honorable discharge.
Joseph is survived by a sister, Felicia Snell, Greenwood, Indiana.
His remains will be interred in the National Cemetery of Fort Smith, Arkansas.