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Paul Dewitt Tufts was a composer and professor of music at the University of Washington. He was born on January 29, 1924 in Yakima, Washington. He graduated from Yakima Senior High School in 1941 and Yakima Valley Junior College in 1943. As a student in Yakima, Tufts also learned to play the French horn and attended the Wilson School of Music. From 1943 to 1946, Tufts served in the Army, first as a military policeman and later as a military bandsman. After his discharge, he moved to Seattle and studied at the Cornish School, where he was a student of Stephen Balogh and, in 1949, was awarded the school's first Composer's Diploma.

Following his studies at Cornish School, Paul enrolled at the University of Washington (UW) where he studied composition with George McKay and received his M.A. in 1951. After graduating from the UW, Tufts co-founded the short-lived New School of Music in Seattle with Stanley Keene. After his school failed, he joined the horn section of the Seattle Symphony, where he was a member from 1951 to 1958. He continued to compose during this time, and served as the Director of the Society of Pacific Northwest Composers. To supplement his income from the Symphony, Paul began teaching music at the Fifth Avenue Record Shop owned by John Erling. Tufts joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Music in 1958, teaching theory and composition. He remained in that position until his retirement in 1989. Paul Tufts died in 2004.

Professor Tufts' work has been performed and recorded by University of Washington faculty musicians and ensembles, the Kronos Quartet, and the Seattle Concert Orchestra. Tufts did not publish his compositions, and although the 7th Quartet and the Cassation were commissioned, he never actively made himself available for commissions.