Champion Mortgage Founder, Hospital Philanthropist Joseph Goryeb Dies at 84

Joseph Goryeb was a doer, a giver, and a perpetual optimist.

The Morristown resident who was named Entrepreneur of the Year, fought in war, and gave the seed money to begin one of the area’s most notable children’s hospitals died on Wednesday, April 8, at the age of 84.

Goryeb, born in Brooklyn, New York, served as a corporal in the Korean War before starting his successful financial career.

After the war, he worked for Beneficial Finance and Suburban Finance companies, then launched his own business, Champion Mortgage, in 1981.

The Parsippany-based business was widely-known for Goryeb’s catch phrase, “When your bank says no, Champion says yes!”

Goryeb made the business a family affair, working alongside his wife, sons, daughter, daughters-in-law, and a nephew, who succeeded together for some 20 years. Champion was recognized by INC Magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in the country for three consecutive years, and Goryeb was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 1992.

Champion was also named one of the top 10 companies to work for in New Jersey.

The company was involved in one of American Cancer Society’s most successful not-for-profit partnerships, raising more than $1 million in the fight against cancer. When Champion was sold in 1997, the Goryebs gave the seed money used by Morristown Medical Center to begin Goryeb Children’s Hospital.

Goryeb is predeceased by his wife, Marge, who died in 2010. He is survived by his sons Joseph and Rick, daughter Lynn, and nine grandchildren.

A viewing will be held Sunday, April 12 from noon to 6 p.m. at Doyle Funeral Home in Morristown. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Monday, April 13 at 10 a.m. at the Church of Assumption in Morristown, with interment following at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Chester.

Memorial donations may be made in Joseph Goryeb’s name to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

All arrangements are being made by Doyle Funeral Home.

Pictured: Joseph P. Goryeb. Photo Courtesy Doyle Funeral Home.

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