Born in Somerset, NJ, on May 30, 1925, he began taking piano lessons when he was eight. He attended Rutgers University, and received his B.A. in 1958 and his M.A. in 1960. He started a doctoral program at Columbia University, but left to grab the opportunity of writing the dance music for a Broadway musical based on James Thurber's "Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated."