BF2S Forums 'Stand And Deliver' Inspiration Jaime Escalante Dead At 79

East Los Angeles high school teacher Jaime Escalante, who was made famous by Edward James Olmos' portrayal of him in the 1988 film "Stand and Deliver," died Tuesday afternoon in Roseville, California. He had been undergoing treatments for bladder cancer in Reno, Nevada, but was brought to his son's California home on Monday by Olmos, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Bolivian-born science and math teacher is perhaps best known for helping to turn the math program at East L.A.'s Garfield High School into one of the finest in the country. His efforts at Garfield were documented in "Stand and Deliver," which Escalante himself described as "90 percent truth and 10 percent drama" to Reason magazine.