He wrote the popular Christmas song "Mary's Boy Child", a top-ten hit in 1956 for Harry Belafonte and a standard today.
Spent his formative years in Homestead, Massachusetts, where he graduated from high school (1921).
Received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts (1929). Was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.