1 Read / Add Comments
He roamed the hallways of Paterson Eastside High School with a bullhorn and bat, wielding a brand of drill-instructor discipline that drew both admirers and critics alike.
He held news conferences at 7 a.m. and once expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers, and drug possession – all in a single day.
And he left such an indelible mark that John Legend, Wendy Calhoun and LeBron James were preparing to create a TV drama about him 30 years after his retirement.
Joe Louis Clark, a Georgia-born, longtime South Orange resident who appeared on the cover of Time magazine and became the inspiration for the film “Lean On Me,” at his home in Gainesville, Florida Tuesday night after a long, unspecified illness, his family said.
Joe Clark, The No-Nonsense High School Principal Immortalized In Lean On Me, Dies At 82
krrq.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from krrq.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Family: Joe Louis Clark, former Paterson principal who inspired Lean on Me, dies at age 82
News 12 Staff
Updated on:Dec 30, 2020, 12:30pm EST
Legendary educator Joe Louis Clark, the long-time principal at
Eastside High School in Paterson who inspired the film Lean on Me
and was known for his
controversial approach to discipline, died Tuesday at the age of 82, his
family says.
“Just try to pour into someone else and
make their lives a little bit better and your life will have a meaning,” says
Hazel Clark, his daughter. “That s what he always told
us, and I just want to say that other people, if you want to preserve
PATERSON Joe Louis Clark, the New Jersey high school disciplinarian who was the inspiration for the Morgan Freeman role in the 1989 movie Lean on Me died on Tuesday. He was 82.
Known for carrying a signature baseball bat and bullhorn, Clark once expelled 300 students on a single day from the city s failing East Side High School.
An inspiration to students in the schools where he worked, Clark also raised a family that reached great heights. His daughters Joetta Clark Diggs and Hazel Clark were members of the U.S. Olympic track and field team. His son, Joe JJ Clark Jr., was their coach and last year was named the director of track and field and cross country at Stanford University.
Joe Louis Clark depicted in the 1989 film
Lean On Me passed away on Tuesday (December 29) at the age of 82.
Once the leader of Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey, Clark’s methods of reaching students, including carrying a baseball bat and bullhorn, were the inspiration behind the film.
Clark was born in Rochelle, Georgia on May 8, 1938. His family moved to Newark, New Jersey when he was six years old. He went through grade school there, graduating from Newark Central High School before earning a bachelor’s from what is now William Paterson University. Clark received his master’s degree from Seton Hall University and an honorary doctorate from the US Sports Academy.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.