Early in his career, he was a history teacher, a
Chicago police officer, and an assistant state's attorney for the criminal division of the
Cook County State's Attorney. He also worked as an adjutant at
Saint Xavier College and the
John Marshall Law School. He served on the
Chicago City Council as an alderman from the 19th ward from April 1, 1975, until resigning to become state senator on February 1, 1979. He served on the
Illinois State Senate from 1979 to 1993 as a
Democrat. In 1999, Joyce was appointed to the
Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees where he served until 2001. He has worked on the campaigns of
Richard M. Daley,
Dan Rostenkowski,
Thomas Hynes,
Michael Sheahan and
Dawn Clark Netsch. Ahead of the
1987 Chicago mayoral election, Joyce indicated his intention to run for the
Republican nomination for mayor, but ultimately did not run. == Personal life ==