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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change presidents in this country is by voting.

- I'’m hopeful that this is the beginning to accountability.

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I did do the finale, and guess where my trailer was?

A block away from my apartment, it couldn'’t have been better!

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

-_ It'’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it'’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

This is "Remember Them."

That is Jacqui Tricarico, our executive producer and my cohost.

Jacqui, today we're gonna take a look at someone I knew really well, he passed away a couple years ago, my dad, Steve Adubato Sr. We have a bunch of people that are gonna be talking about him in the next half hour, Senator Cory Booker, Jim McGreevey, assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin, whole range of others, and my sister Michele who runs the North Ward's Center that my dad ran for so many years, established it in 1970.

Hey, this is a "Remember Them" that is really personal for me.

- Yeah, really special for you and special for all of us.

I mean, I had the opportunity to meet your dad on several different occasions.

And I know that he has really shaped so much of who you are today.

And I just know this is such a special way to celebrate his life, to take this opportunity after his passing to be able to really pay tribute to him and celebrate his life.

And Steve, for you, what has been some of the biggest lessons that you've taken from your dad that you carry with you still today?

- Yeah, it's so interesting.

My Dad accomplished great things.

established the Robert Treat Academy Charter School, one of the first charter schools in the country, very successful, the North Ward Center, a community-based organization established in 1970 that my sister Michele runs right now.

Very involved in political affairs behind the scenes.

Never wanted to run for office, Jacqui.

He always said, I'll be behind the scenes."

I used to say, "Dad, you don't wanna put your name on a ballot.

You don't know if people are gonna vote for you."

And he was tough.

He was rough and he was gruff, but he also had a big heart.

And I used to see him around the kids at the Robert Treat Academy.

My sisters, my two sisters, Michele and Theresa, we'd often say this, that he had this big soft spot for those kids in Newark at the Robert Treat Academy Charter School and we had never really... We didn't see that side of him.

He was really very different with other people's kids, particularly African-American, Latino kids in the North Ward where he did his work.

He had a real soft spot for them.

He cared for them deeply.

- And that's why his impact and his legacy in Newark will live on for so long, Steve.

I mean, what he has, what he had contributed to Newark, to the children of Newark, to so many people's lives that he has touched throughout the years, being a resident in Newark and staying in Newark for so long, and we'll hear from some of those people whose careers that he's touched, but also the lives that he's touched personally on such a personal level.

- You know, some of the people in the documentary will talk about the first time they met my dad or a meeting they had with my dad, and he was a character.

His favorite expression, Jacqui, was this, if he thought you were distracted for half a second, "Listen to me.

You listening to me?"

And then he would tell you something he thought was incredibly profound.

He also had this big picture, framed picture of Niccolo Machiavelli.

And you may ask, "What, why?"

And he was obsessed with Machiavelli, a figure from the 16th century in Italy who he tried to emulate.

Machiavelli was this great leader, scholar, but he could be very rough and very shrewd.

My dad was like, "Yeah, I'm the Machiavelli of our time."

And so, it's so interesting.

So while people talk about him that way, as a character who could be tough and gruff as I said, he did these extraordinary things.

He was a complex man.

- And- - He was really... Go ahead, I'm sorry, Jacqui.

- And being an amazing leader definitely was one of his strongest suits, I think.

But what do you think he would want us to say was the biggest legacy that he left behind?

- You know, this is gonna sound nuts, but it's true, and my mom, who's watching, knows this is true.

He said, "When I die, I want on my tombstone: "Here lies Steve Adubato Sr.

He was not a nice guy."

And I was like, "Dad, what do you mean?"

And he goes, "Listen, nice guys, they're not the people who change the world.

It's people like me who sometimes could be nasty and mean, but they get things done."

I said, "Dad, isn't there some happy medium?"

I think as he got older, he started to realize there may have been a happy medium, but I don't think he ever found it.

So listen, I think his legacy is about those kids in Newark, many of whom will never know him.

He didn't know them, but their lives are better because of his work.

So to honor my dad, Jacqui, who met him a few times, and I've had more than a few difficult conversations with him over the years, my late great dad, Steve Adubato Sr.

This is "Remember Them," Steve Sr. - We are joined here at New Jersey Performing Arts Center by a gentleman I've been looking to interview, he's been ducking me for about 15 years.

Finally he's here, I got him on camera.

Steve Adubato Sr. the founder and executive director of the North Ward Center, one of the country's most respected and successful nonprofit organizations.

You leave the public schools back in, well, 1970, you leave.

After how many years were you teaching by the way?

- 16 years?

- 16 years.

I mean, I remember you hated it at a certain point.

Not that you hated the kids.

You couldn't do it- - 'Cause I know it wasn't happening.

- Okay, 32 years later, this is what you're doing.

Your work and the work of the people around you, the teachers, the administrators, the staff has been recognized nationally.

You interact with these kids a lot, I've seen you.

What's it like for you to be in a classroom with these kids in the Robert Treat Academy, the other programs, what's it like to actually be in a classroom?

- Just like a grandparent?

You know how a grandparent feels?

Everything is great with the kids, that's the way it feels.

It's fantasy, pure fantasy.

The kids know big Steve- - That's what they call you?

- You know what I'm proud of?

I'm a really proud man, very, very proud.

I'm proud that I don't know if there's anybody my age, I'm 69, and an executive who knows as many children as I do.

Know who they are, they know who I am, that makes me, that's great.

Cory Booker has to go vote, Senator Booker has to vote, but he wanted to say something about Steve Sr., go ahead.

- just wanna tell you, I have never met a human being like him.

He is one of the most...

In fact, I was doing something early in my career, as a city councilman, living in a mobile home, parking on the toughest drug corners.

"60 Minutes"'s Dan Rather came to Newark to do a story about me.

Very few people were afraid, at that time, to talk to Dan Rather.

Your dad's like, "Come on up."

He disappears, Dan Rather, for hours and hours, he comes back to me, and says, "Kid, you're an interesting story.

But the most interesting story we've heard, in American politics, is this guy we just met, Steve Adubato, and that was your dad, larger-than-life character, straight out of... Hollywood couldn't make somebody up like him.

And the best thing about him though, with all his bombasity, with all of his- - And some foibles, but go ahead.

- Oh, I will go into the foibles if you want.

- No, no, no, just- - But for me- - the positive things.

- what I always said...

I always said, "Steve, you have my love, Steve senior, you have my love, because I see what you are doing for children, and for seniors up here, it's unparalleled levels of success you're getting for the wellbeing of our children and of our elders."

It's one of those guys where I always say, "Don't listen to what he says, as much as you look at what he does."

- In those days, we had all kinds of ideas about black and white, which were absurd.

As a matter of fact, people thought that because we had a black mayor, that there was something, let's say, strange and wrong because it didn't exist.

Something new.

We were ready to accept it, but the people were not ready to accept that.

So we caught a lot of hell We were not popular in our community.

We were extremely controversial because we not only accepted this leadership, we supported it but that made us tough.

That made us strong.

It made us understand that doing the right thing is the thing that would make us happy.

- All right, "Remember Them," Steve Adubato Sr.

The question is to Michele Adubato, who runs the North Ward Center that our dad founded in 1970.

Why is it important for our audience to remember Steve Sr.?

- I mean, his impact in New Jersey and on education is really, he was in the forefront of education.

His impact is the last thing on, and goes on, in terms of what he's done for the city of Newark.

The programs, the people that he's affected, thousands of people, because of the opportunities that he gave in terms of the services to The North Ward Center, and so much more than that, his impact politically.

- What do you think he taught us?

Me, you, our sister Teresa, of all the faults that we have?

He had many as well, mostly on the personal side, you know?

It was not the easiest, fair to say, not the easiest of dads?

- No, not the easiest, that's for sure.

- But the what?

- It all depends on your definition of what a dad should do, right?

- What did he teach us?

- So if you think that your dad should be like, you know, making sure that you're safe.

(Steve loudly laughing) That was not in his playbook.

He made sure that we understood the world around us.

No matter how ugly it could get, he never shielded us, he wanted us to see the world and people as they are, the good, the bad and the ugly.

And we did.

Some would argue that that was a little too much at the ages that we saw it.

My feeling is, it has certainly made us better people, in terms of understanding how to deal with situations right then, right there, and to keep on going.

And you know, for that I'm eternally, you know, grateful for that.

- Yeah, he had a unique leadership style, did he not?

- He sure did.

You know, he was no holds barred, he told you his version of the truth, he didn't edit his words, and that hurt sometimes, But honestly, you know, we could sit and talk about, you know, critically, he was a very tough man to be around, but I miss him.

And you know, what I miss is, is what would he be doing right now?

Like I wonder, with this pandemic, how would he have handled it?

- He was pretty good in a crisis.

When the fire happened at the North Ward Center in the middle of the night, I believe it was the night after Christmas, 1970, I'll get the date wrong, I think it's '76.

Mom will correct us when she sees this.

But he was right there, the building, The North Ward Center was burning down to the ground, and he, not a tear shed, he told everybody, "You can go ahead and cry right now, but tomorrow morning we're gonna be back here to rebuild."

Remember that?

I mean, you were a little kid.

You don't even remember, do you?

- Let me tell you, and I'm sure you get the same way, when there's a real crisis, and I could say certainly we use this as a, you know, the pandemic was a serious crisis, is a serious crisis.

In many ways, I did the same thing.

I kept my head, you know, up, in terms of what we needed to do.

Believe it or not, little or no emotion, this is what we need to do, this is what needs to happen, and we're gonna keep, we're gonna stay the course.

And, you know, so those kind of, I guess experiences has truly taught me how to be a leader in all situations, especially a leader in the most difficult situations.

-Think of a life of a human being, like an athletic contest.

Like a race.

And everyone is at the starting line together.

And I'm thinking about our kids in Newark.

Camden, Trenton, cities all over the country.

Starting line, right.

Let's say the starting line is being born but because of the disadvantages of being in urban America, the child stumbles and he falls and the other kids are running.

So they have a big head start.

And you know what?

You can never catch up.

You might try harder, but you never catch up.

We're going to give our children a great start, equal, if not superior, than people who live in more affluent communities.

And we're doing that every day here.

- Here he is, former governor, always a governor once you're a governor, Jim McGreevey.

Hey Jim, let me ask you, I gotta ask you about my dad.

What do you remember about Steve Sr?

- My God.

So, I've got so many Steve Adubato stories it's actually frustrating.

Just the first time- So the first time, you go up and Steve Adubato is, is a legend.

And you're in the North Ward Cultural Center, and I happen to have been born with a handicap of being Irish, going to the North Ward Cultural Center, so all things Italian.

I mean, I could have virtually been in Rome.

- Especially the food.

- Oh, I mean, you know, You go from room, to room, to room and you go from, Mario Lanza to Pavarotti, and you're listening to Italian opera.

So I finally get into the room of the Cardinal.

- The back room.

The room in the back- - The back room.

- Right.

- And he says to me, he looks up and they're piping in La bohème, he looks up and he goes, "A lot better than Irish step dancing."

And, you know, like what do I do?

You know, I was just like, Oh yeah, I think it was even more cryptic, He said, "It's better than Danny Boy."

And I'm just like, what am I gonna do?

- everything was a, Why was everything a contest with Steve Sr?

- It was, and it was particularly a contest between the Irish and Italians because that was the framework of that generation.

I mean, they were the two greatest blocks, but the other one, I remember I get elected governor, and I go up to the North Ward Cultural Center and I see all these well-scrubbed, and the academy is doing so well, Robert Treat Academy- - The standardized test scores are off the charts on mathematics, on language arts, they're one of the best performing urban schools, not just in Newark, literally in the nation.

Kids whose academic growth is tremendous, and I see these well-scrubbed kids I get this warm feeling of affection and support.

And Steve goes, "Now!"

All these kids hold up these signs and say, "Show me the money, show me the money!"

And I'm like, Steve.

(Laughter) - You hold on one second, Jim McGreevey, are you saying when you were the governor, my father used those kids to try to put pressure on you to get more state money for his programs with those kids at the Robert Treat Academy, are you implying that or stating it directly?

- Exactly, blatantly and shamelessly, show me the money.

And so the point was, alright McGreevey, you can come up here and talk and hawk about how great their standardized test scores are, but at the end of the day, I've gotta produce, I've gotta hire good teachers.

He had a longer classroom instructional period, and he also taught, he wasn't a great believer in summer's off.

I mean, all children were in that school for, at least, three fifths of the summer period.

And so his point was, yes, these results happen but they don't happen because of the holy ghost.

They happen because we're teaching longer, we're teaching harder, and we're making sure that we provide these benefits.

why is it that the Robert Treat charter school, has these kids succeeding performing like a grade above in reading and math test, And the kids, their counterparts in the public schools are suffering, what's that about?

- It's that we are not buried under bureaucracy, We can stick to the simple task of educating children.

- Say somebody else's says, "I wanna do what you're doing Steve Adubato, I wanna start a charter school in my city, it could be in Baltimore, Philadelphia, audience are in urban areas all over.

What do they need to do?

- Number one, have much higher expectations.

In other words, our school opens at 7:30 in the morning, it closes at 5:30 at night, it's open 11 months a year, and I said now Saturday classes.

First challenge, create a situation where the kids are challenged, where they have to inwardly use their resources and really put out work.

The answer to America is not charter schools.

Yes, charter schools are not gonna.. We are a proving ground, a laboratory, the answer is the public schools of America.

- [Steve Jr.] Can they do it?

- We have to, 90% of our kids in America go to public schools.

If our urban schools fail, the price is beyond, if you wanna put it in dollars, -(Steve Jr.) What is the price?

it's the loss of our future.

It means deterioration of our society.

- We're joined by State Assembly Woman from the City of Newark, from the Ironbound section of the city of Newark, State Assembly Woman, Eliana Pintor Marin.

Good to see you, Assembly Woman.

- Thanks for having me, Steve.

Nice to see you as well.

- So let me ask you this, I say Steve Adubato Sr., you say?

- Interesting.

(Steve laughing) - Come on, you gotta give me more than that.

What made him interesting?

- I might not be able to say much.

No, phenomenal leader.

Way, way above and beyond thinking of where he was in that particular time.

- He's from the North Ward of Newark.

You're from the Ironbound section.

Without going into the political intrigue involved, because he, in addition to being the leader of, and the founder of the North Ward Center in Newark, somewhat involved, let's say, in politics in the state.

Did he come to you?

I mean, there were other people in between, but I know that he always talked about you as a very talented young leader who had great potential.

- It was interesting when I had the opportunity to run for the Board of Ed, right, we've always had, and this is long even before I came into play, just I want to say like a team really, the North and the East, just because we're very similar, right?

A lot of immigrant families, not just now in the East Ward at that time, but also in the North Ward, right?

Where they saw the Italians in the Puerto Rican exchange, the same thing happened in the Ironbound, right, from the Italian to the Portuguese Exchange.

So there's just been so many similarities.

And when I had that opportunity to run, it was gonna be on Steve Adubato's ticket and it was interesting, I learned a lot that first election.

Had no idea what I was really getting myself into, but it was probably one of the most amazing things that I've ever done and been a part of.

- Let me ask you this.

My dad's commitment, and some of the other people have talked about this, including a former mayor, excuse me, Senator Booker, US senator, former mayor and others.

His commitment to the city of Newark, talk about that and its children in particular.

- Yeah, I think, you know, at the end of the day, people can say whatever they want to say about Steve's dabbling in politics, but there was one thing that was always clear, that if you were gonna be part of the team, it was always putting kids first.

And he was such an artist in the sense of being able to craft what he needed politically in order to bring it forward to what he needed for the kids.

And I think that sometimes it got lost in translation, but when you see the work and you take a step back, you know, between the school, the services and everything, there was really no one like him.

He was such a visionary at that time.

- The biggest achievement?

I'm absolutely sure of this.

It's an example that says it can be done.

Robert Treat... Whatever happens to the children, wonderful, people could come to Robert Treat and see what's going on and they could duplicate it and do it even better.

The most important, the Robert Treat, it exists, it works.

And it says loud and clear urban children can be prepared for the future.

It can be done.

- Talking about Steve Adubato Sr. with someone who knew him really well, Father Edwin Leahy, the headmaster at St. Benedict's Prep.

All right, look, Father Ed, a million stories about Steve Sr. We don't have time for all that.

Why do people need to remember Steve Adubato Sr.?

Don't hold back.

(laughing) - Well, because of what Steve did in the community, right?

I mean, he never left.

He lived in Newark all his life, intentionally.

And people should know about him because of his organizational ability.

And that he wasn't embarrassed by politics.

I used to ask him all the time, Steve, why do you do this?

He said, well, some people studied med- go to school, study medicine.

Some people go to school and study to be lawyers.

He said, I went, I studied politics, so I practiced politics.

And he was unabashed about it and helped a whole lot of people as a result of it.

I mean, all you have to do is look at the Center and the schools and how many young people have been helped.

How many seniors have been helped by him?

You need to know about him.

So other people behind him can do the same kind of things.

- But you and I have had so many conversations offline about him, about family, and you told me so many times that my dad would stop by St. Benedicts, into the abbey and just sit- pick up from there, pick up from there, Father.

- Yeah.

There were times I'd go to church early in the morning and we have prayer together in the monastery at six, and I'd walk into church before six, and he'd already be there.

He'd be sitting in the monks' choir and tell the security guy at the front desk to let him in.

He'd get in, he'd sit there.

And there were other nights where we'd be in the middle of, or in the early part, not always, sometimes in the middle, of dinner.

And at dinner, we eat in silence and we read, somebody takes turns reading each week from a book that we all listen to, and he would walk in and now there, there could be, oh, maybe 10, 12 empty chairs at the various tables in the dining room, the refractory.

He'd walk in and sit at the abbots table, which if you knew Steve, you wouldn't be surprised at that.

But some people might be.

He would go in (thudding table) sit himself there, and it was just like home for him.

And then he would tell me that I- I wanted to be a priest, but he said I couldn't be obedient.

So that's why he didn't do it.

- You guys were tight personally.

- What's that?

- Not a lot of people were tight with him personally.

- Yeah, We spent a lot of time together.

We spent, I mean, he'd show up here or he'd call me and say, get up here, right?

Come up right now.

And we just spent a lot of time together and driving around at night.

It was interesting to me because the things, there was, and you see this, I've seen it before in other super bright people who- there was a child-likeness in your father that was, if you spent a lot of time with him, you'd see.

He would go around and look at various signs and different things, some of which had him on, no doubt.

But it fascinated him, these things, which is why he could walk into a kindergarten class or a first grade class and be completely immersed with those little kids.

And they loved them, right?

I mean, it was like at that point in his life, he was like everybody's grandfather, right, with the kids.

- I talked about dreams come true.

But what happens if what happens is even bigger than a dream?

That's my story.

That's why in the morning I can't wait to get here and to be part of this, be part of a dream Even bigger than that.

Wow.

- [Narrator] One on One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSE&G, NJM Insurance Group.

RWJBarnabas Health.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Prudential Financial.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

And by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by New Jersey Monthly.