 Martin graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1938 and lived in New York City for much of his life.He died in 1968 when the plane he was piloting crashed during a humanitarian relief mission to the Biafra region of Nigeria.In 2012, neighborhood residents, elected officials, and students protested a plan to close August Martin High School, considered to be under-performing by the New York City Department of Education's leadership, and open new schools in the same building under different names.