Composer. The creator of more than 500 vocal and orchestral pieces, he shall possibly be best remembered for his "Pilgrim's Hymn" which as of the time of his death had been performed at the funerals of two US Presidents. Raised in the Twin Cities from the time he was a toddler, he got his early musical influence from his father, an amateur church organist, and was educated at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Minnesota, receiving his Ph.D. in composition in 1978. Starting in the late 1970s, he carved out a career writing classical works on commission, one of few individuals able to make a living doing so rather than having to depend on a teaching or conducting post as do most composers. Paulus' initial major success came from his second opera, 1982's "The Postman Always Rings Twice", an adaptation of James Cain's classic 1934 crime novel that was one of his five productions for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Over the years he wrote for the Minnesota Orchestra, the Robert Shaw Chorale, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic, and numerous other ensembles while receiving Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships as well as the Kennedy Center's Friedheim Prize. Some of his better-known works, which have been performed by countless groups, included 1985's opera "The Woodlanders", "Pilgrim's Hymn" which was heard at the funerals of Presidents Reagan and Ford, the short choral piece "The Road Home", and 2005's Holocaust memorial "To Be Certain of the Dawn". Paulus remained active until his final illness and died of the effects of a stroke suffered on July 4, 2013; at his demise a number of recordings of his compositions were available including the Minnesota Orchestra's 2008 preservation of "To Be Certain of the Dawn".