Joseph Lee Green, age 95, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, after a brief illness on Friday, February 20, 2026.

Born January 14, 1931, in Compass Lake, Florida, he was the son of Francis Marion Green and Mattie Eveline Carlisle. Growing up in rural north Florida during the Great Depression, he developed the curiosity and imagination that would shape both his professional career and his lifelong passion for storytelling. While working in the nation's space program, he continued his education and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Alabama.

Joseph built a distinguished dual career in the American space program and in science fiction writing. He worked for 37 years in the nation's military and civilian space programs and spent most of his career at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. There he specialized in translating complex scientific and engineering ideas into language accessible to the public, preparing fact sheets, brochures, and technical publications that helped explain the rapidly advancing space program to a wider audience. He supported the Atlas-Centaur, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs. He retired from NASA as Deputy Chief of the Education Office at Kennedy Space Center in 1997.

At the same time, Joseph pursued a second career as a fiction writer. A charter member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, he published dozens of short stories and several novels, becoming known for thoughtful and imaginative science fiction. His best-known novel, Gold the Man (also published as The Mind Behind the Eye), appeared in 1971, and his work was translated into several languages. Over the course of his career, he published more than seventy short stories and essays in leading science fiction magazines including Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Joseph is survived by his daughters, Rose-Marie Green Lillian of Merritt Island, Florida; Melody Marie Green (Heather Green) of Palm Bay, Florida; and Melissa Ellen Zebley (Andrew Zebley) of Granite Falls, North Carolina. He also is survived by his nephew, Scott Roger Burnham (Teri Burnham) of Casselberry, Florida; and other nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Patrice (Milton) Green; his sisters, Christine (Green) Bennett and Voncile (Green) Burnham; his son, William Merritt Green; his grandchildren, Carey Shan Green and Alyssa Zebley; and his first wife Juanita (Henderson) Green.

Joseph will be remembered as a devoted father and grandfather, a gifted storyteller, and a man whose work helped others better understand the realities of space exploration while imagining the possibilities of worlds beyond it. The family will hold a celebration of life from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, April 19, at 1390 Holly Ave., Merritt Island, Florida. For more information please call (321) 305-6926, or email [email protected] .