Portrayed by Morgan Freeman, he gained national celebrity in the 1980s with his efforts to impose order on his inner-city high school and became a lightning rod in an enduring debate over education in America.
Joe Louis Clark, an uncompromising educator who made national headlines by roaming the halls of Paterson s Eastside High School wielding a baseball bat, has died at 82.
Clark died Tuesday at his home in Florida, surrounded by family, after a long illness, his family said.
Before meeting with the Reagan administration, appearing on the cover of Time magazine and inspiring the 1989 biopic Lean on Me (with Morgan Freeman as Clark), he arrived at the troubled high school in 1982 and quickly cracked down on students and faculty.
Over a six-year tenure as Eastside s principal, Clark was both lauded and criticized for his tough approach.
With the passing of former principal Joe Clark, it s apparent that they don t make men like that anymore. Or at least people are not allowed to be a Joe Clark anymore.
Clark was the principal of Paterson s East Side High School in the 1980s and his story was the inspiration for the movie Lean on Me. He was a tough disciplinarian who earned the respect of many of his staff and students through hard work and an unwavering dedication to his job and the people it affected.
Joe Louis Clark didn t care about the criticism he received. He just knew his way was the only way to reach those kids and to put them on a better path in life. He was the kind of man that we rarely see today. There wasn t a fear of losing his pension or being badmouthed around school or around the state. He just did what he had to do with the kind of strong leadership that is rarely seen today.
Joe Clark, New Jersey principal who inspired ‘Lean on Me,’ dies at 83 Emily Langer Joe Clark, the bullhorn-bearing New Jersey principal who gained national celebrity in the 1980s with his efforts to impose order on his inner-city high school, a story that inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me” and made him a lightning rod in an enduring debate over education in America, died Dec. 29 at his home in Newberry, Fla. He was 83, according to his daughter Hazel Clark, who said that other reports of his age as 82 were in error. She confirmed his death but did not cite a cause.
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