About

Ken Joseph

Ken Joseph

Ken has had a lifelong interest in improving passenger rail. He joined RPA in the early 1980s and has been a member of RPA's Council of Representatives since the early 1990s.

Ken is a graduate of St. John’s College (Annapolis) and the Duquesne University Law School. He was a practicing attorney from 1984 until his retirement in 2016.

Ken maintained a general real estate practice, with most of his time devoted to zoning, commercial leasing, and low- and mixed-income housing development. During his legal career, he also had numerous occasions to assist his nonprofit clients with issues regarding the governance of nonprofit organizations.

For the past three years, Ken has been a member of the Board of the Rail Passengers Association. He has previously been a member of the boards of several organizations, including Children’s International Summer Villages USA, the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, and the Thomas Merton Center.

"It is an honor to be recognized by the Rail Passengers Association for my efforts to strengthen and expand America’s passenger rail. Golden spikes were once used by railroads to mark the completion of important rail projects, so I am truly grateful to receive the Golden Spike Award as a way to mark the end of a career that I’ve spent fighting to invest in our country’s rail system. As Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it has been my priority to bolster funding for Amtrak, increase and expand routes, look to the future by supporting high-speed projects, and improve safety, culminating in $66 billion in new funding in the Bipartisan infrastructure Law."

Representative Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
March 30, 2022, on receiving the Association's Golden Spike Award for his years of dedication and commitment to passenger rail.