My Dad was a student at De Witt Clinton High School, almost surely when Meeropol was on the faculty there. My Dad didn't have any memory of him, but it was a huge school, so it was quite possible they never met (and, anyway, it would have been 60 or 70 years before I asked about it).

I'm pretty sure we've had threads about the song and the man on Mudcat in the past.