Antisemitic Professor Clyde Magarelli Learns Karma’s a Bitch

A retired professor known for espousing antisemitic views to his students has died in a house fire.

A 79-year-old Woodbury resident died early Tuesday morning after a fire broke out in the 19th century house on Route 32 where he had lived for 34 years.

Clyde Magarelli, a retired professor who had taught sociology for five decades at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., lived alone and was the only person in the house during the fire.

Woodbury Fire Chief Scott McClennan Jr. said at the scene that the fire initially was reported around 4:15 a.m. by passing drivers on the Thruway, which runs behind Magarelli’s house. McClennan said flames were shooting out of a second-story window when he arrived minutes later.

Firefighters spent about an hour and a half controlling the blaze, which destroyed much of the second floor and roof. McLennan said fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire but had found nothing suspicious.

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Media reports in 2018 indicated that William Paterson was investigating classroom videos a student had posted on Twitter in which Magarelli suggested the moon landing was faked and seemed to minimize the brutality of the Nazi Gestapo. The videos and an earlier controversy involving Magarelli sparked accusations he was trafficking in anti-Semitic and conspiratorial views.

And here’s the kicker: Tuesday morning, the time of this Holocaust denier’s death, was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.