Joe Clark, principal who inspired ’Lean on Me,’ has died at 82

Joe Louis Clark, the no-nonsense principal whose firm commitment to his students and uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film ’Lean on Me,’ has died. He was 82. In a statement, his family said he died at his Florida home of an unspecified. As the principal of the notorious Eastside High School, he once expelled 300 students in one day for a range of reasons.