He was chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts from 1967 to 1975, and is now Professor of Music Emeritus at Duke University. Ward was born in 1917 and began composing as a student. He attended Eastman School of Music and Juilliard School of Music in the 1930s and early 1940s before joining the United States Army during World War II. During the war he served as a band director, and was stationed in the Pacific.