When Joe Jackson, the patriarch and architect behind the musical Jackson family dynasty died on June 27, some media organizations focused on the negative stories. Mr. Jackson often was described as overly strict, a villain and verbally abusive toward his nine children that include superstars Janet Jackson and the late Michael Jackson, who died in 2009.

However, at least one Richmonder who found his own success in show business, remembers the 89-year-old Mr. Jackson in a more positive light.

“Joe Jackson was one of the greatest fathers of all time,” said Steve K. Branch, a former concert promoter and nightclub owner. “A lot of people complain that he was a bad father, but he looked after his kids.”

Mr. Branch, whose 35-year career included bringing musicians to the Richmond Coliseum and his former nightclubs that included Ivory’s, Armani’s, City Lights, the Slip at Shockoe and Bixby’s, recalls how the City of Richmond gave Mr. Jackson and his sons, the Jackson 5, a “key to the city” when the group appeared here in the early 1970s.

“I have never heard people in the coliseum being as loud,” Mr. Branch said, recalling the crowd’s reaction. “He may have ruled with an iron fist, but he took his family to heights that he probably never imagined.”

Known by many as “Joe” Jackson, he died last Wednesday at Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas with his wife, Katherine, along with some of his children and grandchildren, at his bedside.

It had been reported that the family patriarch had been battling terminal pancreatic cancer and was “not doing well.”

Sources told the Associated Press that Mr. Jackson was buried in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. It is the same cemetery where Michael Jackson is entombed in a mausoleum.

Mr. Jackson, who was born July 26, 1928, in Fountain Hill, Ark., was the eldest of four children. His father, Samuel Jackson, was a high school teacher, and his mother, Crystal Lee King, was a housewife.

Mr. Jackson was 12 when his parents separated, and he followed his father to Oakland, Calif.

After high school, he moved to East Chicago, Ind., where his mother had settled, and became an amateur boxer for a short time.

In 1949, he married Katherine Scruse, and settled in Gary, Ind.

Mr. Jackson had ambitions of being a marquee name in his own right, first as a boxer and in the mid-1950s, a guitarist. He and his brother Luther launched a band called The Falcons, with the intention to book gigs for extra money but never tasted success.

After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson moved into a home on Jackson Street in Gary, where he worked as a crane operator at a steel mill as they welcomed their first of 10 children, Maureen “Rebbie” Jackson.

Rebbie was followed by Sigmund “Jackie” Jackson in 1951, Toriano “Tito” Jackson in 1953, Jermaine Jackson in 1954, La Toya Jackson in 1956, Marlon Jackson in 1957, Michael Jackson in 1958, Steven Randall “Randy” Jackson in 1961 and Janet Jackson in 1966.

Marlon’s twin, Brandon, died soon after birth.

Mr. Jackson put his own musical ambitions aside to work in the steel mills to support his wife and children and far surpassed his own dreams through his children.

Mrs. Jackson would sing around the house and that was cited as a crucial musical influence by her budding talented children.

As the family grew to nine children, Mr. Jackson came to realize the truly gifted musicians in his family were his children. They all occupied a tiny house on, as fate would have it, Jackson Street.

Mr. Jackson launched his first family group in 1962 featuring Jackie, Tito and Jermaine and two neighbors. The neighbors were eventually replaced with brothers Michael and Marlon and The Jackson 5 went professional in 1966.

The Jackson 5, fronted by Mr. Jackson’s exceptionally gifted seventh child, signed to Motown by 1969 and their bubble gum soul-pop hybrid created a Beatle-like mania for American teenagers, with hits including “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There.”

This became the first phase of superstardom for the Jackson family. At the height of their stardom, The Jackson 5 sold millions of records and had their own variety show.

Mr. Jackson, the unlikely star maker demanded nothing less than perfection as he drove his children toward stardom. To a remarkable degree, he succeeded.

“We’d perform for him and he’d critique us. If you messed up, you got hit, sometimes with a belt, sometimes with a switch. My father was real strict with us — real strict,” Michael Jackson wrote in his 1985 autobiography, “Moonwalk.”

Randy Jackson, the youngest Jackson brother, replaced Jermaine in the mid-1970s when the group left Motown and became The Jacksons at CBS and Jermaine, then married to founder Berry Gordy’s daughter Hazel, stayed behind and launched a solo career.

Over the following decades, millions would listen to both group and solo recordings by The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons as Michael began his climb to becoming one of the most popular entertainers in history.

Janet Jackson, the youngest daughter behind Rebbie and LaToya, became another multiplatinum superstar.

Joe Jackson initially managed her career, too, putting her in the Jacksons’ variety show in the early 1970s, where she charmed with her Mae West routine, and shepherding her acting career on shows like “Good Times.”

But soon after she put out “Control,” her breakthrough album at 19, Miss Jackson severed managerial ties with her father.

All nine of the Jackson family children had a hand in producing major hit records, and Michael Jackson would become the most popular recording artist of the 1980s.

“Papa Joe,” as he would become known, ruled through his stern, intimidating and unflinching presence, which became so indelible it was part of black popular culture, even referenced in song and on TV.

Mr. Jackson’s success in guiding his children’s early careers led to a star-studded social lifestyle.

However, by the time the Jackson children became adults, most of the siblings had dismissed their father as their manager.

Michael and Joseph’s relationship was famously fractured. Michael revered his mother, Katherine, but kept his distance from his father.

Michael Jackson acknowledged their complicated relationship in a 2001 speech about healthy relationships between parents and their children.

In his autobiography, Joseph Jackson acknowledged having been a stern parent, saying he believed it was the only way to prepare his children for the tough world of show business. However, he always denied physically abusing his children.

By 2005, no longer involved in his children’s careers, Joseph Jackson launched a boot camp for aspiring hip-hop artists, promoting lyrics without vulgarity and sponsoring competitions for young artists from across the country.

He spent most of his time at a home in Las Vegas and traveled the country auditioning talent for the competition.

For many years before that, he and his wife had lived in an estate they built in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley where he had hoped his children would remain with him at least until they were married and had families.

However the entire family was estranged, and Mr. Jackson, a dandy who wore a pencil-thin mustache and huge diamond pinky ring, faced allegations by his wife, Katherine, of infidelity. She filed for divorce twice but never followed through.

“We just let our troubles die out,” Michael Jackson said in 1988, following reconciliation. “We survived. We love each other, and we have children. That’s why we’re together.”

In a recent Radio Disney awards ceremony acceptance speech, Janet Jackson thanked her father by saying, “My mother nourished me with the most extravagant love imaginable.”

“My father, my incredible father drove me to be the best I can. My siblings set an incredibly high standard, a high bar for artistic excellence.”

Joe Jackson is survived by his wife, Katherine, and their children Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Janet. Mr. Jackson is also survived by another daughter, Joh’Vonnie, by Cheryl Terrell.