He also worked as an adjutant at Saint Xavier College and the John Marshall Law School.

[1] 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.

[3][4] In 1999, Joyce was appointed to the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees where he served until 2001.

[5] He has worked on the campaigns of Richard M. Daley, Dan Rostenkowski, Thomas Hynes, Michael Sheahan and Dawn Clark Netsch.

He has four sons: Dan, Kevin who served in the Illinois General Assembly, Jeremiah Joyce, Jr. who ran for mayor of Chicago in the 2019 mayoral election, and Mike who runs the Celtic Boxing Club and is married to Muhammad Ali's daughter Jamillah.