Meet Joe

Joe is a son of Highlandtown, a Baltimore native, and 3rd generational Baltimorean, raising the 4th generation.  He grew up in Highlandtown in a tight knit Italian community but spent his time both in Highlandtown and Little Italy (his father's neighborhood).  Almost everyone knew his grandfather, Galileo Petrosillo, the master electrician of Pet's Electric.  He was away ahead of his time with the only 100% electrical orange car riding through the streets of Highlandtown.  It was his grandfather who always challenged him to better himself and the community.  

During the summer before his freshman year in high school, his family moved from the city for better and equal education opportunities for his disabled sister.  Joe graduated from Loyola Blakefield, and only the second in his family to have attended college.  He earned a B.A. degree in psychology with a minor in business from Loyola University Maryland in 2003.  That fall, he began graduate school, completing 45 (of 51) credits towards a M.S. degree in counseling psychology ultimately deciding on a different career path.  

In 2007, Joe moved back to Baltimore permanently.  Since that time, he has been a resident of Brewers Hill, where he has served as the community President,  raising three kids with his wife.  They live in his wife's childhood home.  Joseph was a life-long member at Our Lady of Pompei church, the church of his family for now four generations.  He served as a trustee overseeing finances and working to create a united faith community of Americans and diverse Hispanic immigrants.   The church closed after 101 year of ministry as part of the Archdiocese's Seek The City To Come initiative.   He is also a member of Highland Lodge #184 where he was elected to lead the lodge since 2025.  

He loves to bake and plays the piano and organ.  His side gig in church organist.  In 2020,  one of his quarantine project was teaching himself how to play the saxophone.