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Jerome Joseph, lover of books, dies at 87

Jerome Joseph, owner of the Brand Bookstore, poses for a photo in this July 2008 file photo. Joseph, who owned the bookstore in Glendale for nearly three decades until the shop closed a year ago this month, has died after a protracted series of illnesses. He was 87.

Jerome Joseph, owner of the Brand Bookstore, poses for a photo in this July 2008 file photo. Joseph, who owned the bookstore in Glendale for nearly three decades until the shop closed a year ago this month, has died after a protracted series of illnesses. He was 87.

(Roger Wilson / Staff Photographer)
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Jerome Joseph, owner of Brand Bookshop in Glendale for nearly three decades until the shop closed a year ago this month, has died after a protracted series of illnesses. He was 87.

Joseph was born on Feb. 23, 1928 in Wood River, Ill., and practiced law for several years in Missouri. He moved to Southern California in the early 1980s. The former Crown Books store at Brand Boulevard and Broadway inspired him to follow suit, and he launched Brand Bookshop with business partner Larry Mullen in the 200 block of North Brand in 1985.

Over the years, the shelves grew crammed with thousands of books in roughly 1,500 categories from classic titles to writings about the occult.

“It’s hard to name a book we don’t have,” Joseph said in a 2013 interview with the News-Press.

As the age of tablets and digital readers gradually ate away at the traditional book business model, Brand Bookshop trudged onward.

Customers stayed loyal for years, and some said they kept returning to enjoy what the pre-Internet days used to be like.

In 1993, Mullen left the business, and Joseph’s adoptive son Noriaki Nakano began working at the shop.

The two ran the bookstore until its final day. However, Joseph’s health had deteriorated to a point where he could still sit behind the counter and chat with customers but could no longer work the cash register.

Last year, Nakano said his adoptive father was living in an assisted-living facility.

Joseph died on Aug. 4.

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