September 15, 1961 – March 10, 2025
Joseph L. Chang, 63, of Reading, MA, died unexpectedly March 10, 2025, surrounded by his family at Kaplan Family Hospice. Family and friends are deeply saddened and shocked by his sudden death.
Joe was born in Hong Kong on September 15, 1961, to Benny and Lucy (Yu) Chang. Two years later his family moved to the United States. He was a bridge from that day on between cultures, generations and the people around him.
Attending Northeastern University brought him from New Jersey to Boston, where he began working at the iconic Bailey’s Ice Cream and Candy Shop. There he met Angela DeBenedictis and ice cream cones led to wedding bells and nearly 39 years of marriage. His unwavering work ethic and generous spirit to give others a hand kicked in at UPS, where for 31 years in delivery, management and sales his colleagues always knew he was a man they could rely on, on the job and personally.
He combined his love of sports and mentoring on the playing fields of Reading, coaching baseball, basketball and softball teams for his son and daughter. Later, he was an assistant coach for the Reading Memorial High School softball team.
After taking early retirement from UPS, he joined More Than Words, an entire organization dedicated to training and educating youth, and his mentoring instincts had new and specific purpose. He embraced it all with his trademark respect, loyalty and dry sense of humor.
For Joe, family were friends and friends were family. He played golf, vacationed, tie-dyed t-shirts and traded good natured barbs with all. He loved a good gathering. While Angela tackled the cooking, Joe took the clean-up head on. Real men vacuumed in Joe’s house.
Joe’s greatest joy was becoming “Papa” to his darling grandchildren. He delighted in spending time playing with them, reading to them and loving them.
Besides his wife Angela (DeBenedictis) Chang, Joe is survived and sorely missed by his daughter Lizzy and her husband Alex; his son Gregory and wife Leslie; his beloved grandchildren Haley and Nathaniel; his mother Lucy Chang, his sister Karen Chang and many Yu family cousins; his close-knit family of DeBenedictis in-laws, Marie, Anne and Dan, Vinny and Joan, Louise, Jean and Gail, Phil and Yvonne and John and Carol; 10 nieces and nephews, Paul, Michael, David, Stephen, Danny, Andrew, Lisa, Joe, Julia and Lily; and 12 grand-nieces and nephews.
Private cremation has been held. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for April.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to More Than Words https://secure.givelively.org/donate/more-than-words-inc/honoring-joe
