Legendary N.J. principal, who inspired the film ‘Lean on Me,’ dies at 82
Updated Dec 31, 2020;
Posted Dec 30, 2020
Joe Clark, the retired principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, where he gained fame and criticism for his iron rule, is pictured in this Star-Ledger file photo from July 2000. At the time, he was working as the director of the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center.Patti Sapone
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Joe Louis Clark, the former bat-wielding principal of Paterson’s Eastside High School whose strict disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean On Me,” died Tuesday at the age of 82, his family said.
Clark, a longtime resident of South Orange, retired to Gainesville, Florida, died surrounded by his family at his home after a long battle with an illness, they said.
Derick Waller reports on the 14-year-old speaking out about the incident.
At the crime- and drug-ridden school, Clark once expelled 300 students in a single day for fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers and drug possession. That lifted the expectations of those who remained, continually challenging them to perform better.
Clark s unorthodox methods won him both admirers and critics nationwide, and President Ronald Reagan offered him a White House policy adviser position after his success at the high school.
Freeman starred as Clark in the 1989 film Lean on Me that was loosely based on Clark s tenure at Eastside.
After he retired from Eastside in 1989, Clark worked for six years as the director of Essex County Detention House, a juvenile detention center in Newark. He also wrote Laying Down the Law: Joe Clark s Strategy for Saving Our Schools, detailing his methods for turning around Eastside High.
Joe Louis Clark, the principal at Paterson, New Jersey's Eastside High who inspired a major motion picture, died Tuesday at the age of 82, his family announced.
Joe Clark, Tough and Dedicated NJ Principal Who Inspired Film ‘Lean on Me, Dead at 82 Known for roaming the halls of the school with a baseball bat and a blowhorn, Clark helped turn around Paterson s Eastside High School, which was riddled with crime and drugs when he took over as principal
Published December 29, 2020 •
Updated on December 30, 2020 at 9:53 pm
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Joe Louis Clark, whose toughness and dedication to the students at a troubled high school in New Jersey landed him on the cover of TIME magazine and inspired the 1989 movie Lean on Me, has died at the age of 82, his family said.