Joel Timothy Wright

A husband, son, brother, uncle, extraordinary researcher, paralegal and human servant to dozens of his beloved “Z dogs (and cats) over the years, Joel Timothy Wright left us far too soon.

Joel to his Arizona family and friends (and Tim to his Arkansas family and friends) died November 11, 2024 after a multi-year battle with lung cancer at age 69 with his wife of 39 years, Janell Youtsey, at his side. 

Born in El Dorado, Arkansas on October 11, 1955, he was a loyal Razorback fan even after moving to Arizona. A graduate of Arizona State University with a Master’s in Sociology, Joel worked for the US Census Bureau, the Prevention Research Center at ASU and Behavior Research Center before creating his own research firm, Wright Consulting Services.

Joel developed research techniques that did more than just report numbers. His understanding of what drove opinions made his work invaluable to numerous political campaigns and causes. His research was essential to efforts enabling tribal nations to develop gaming programs in Arizona and elsewhere including Michigan and Canada. His work was critical in successful efforts to convince voters to constitutionally prohibit the use of steel-jaw leg-hold trapping in Arizona. 

He worked on several long-term projects including School-to-Work which created successful partnerships between businesses and schools. Another long-term project for the City of Tempe helped them build an inclusive, high-performance workplace culture to better serve their citizens that continues to thrive today. His work was instrumental in multiple local public policy efforts including those in Scottsdale and campaigns in Glendale and Surprise. 

Strong partner that he was, when his wife Janell opened her law practice in 2015, he became her technical manager and paralegal until he was no longer able to do the work.

Alas, though numbers and statistical analysis were integral parts of his work leading to successful efforts in both candidate and issue campaigns, that knowledge did not pay such dividends for Joel in the NFL pool he helped organize and run for 30 years. 

He struggled just like everybody else to figure out those games but he was a stalwart administrator.

Joel dedicated his life to making the world a better place. He put others first and chose projects that helped others and improved our world. He will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Joel is survived by his wife Janell Youtsey, his nephew Trey Wright, wife Kate and son Richard Wright the fourth, his niece Taylor Jucha and his godsons Chris Southworth and Shawn Southworth. A celebration of life will be held in the new year. In lieu of flowers, Joel requested those who wish to honor him to donate to the Lung Cancer Research Foundation at www.lungcancerresearchfoundation.org/.