David Van Vactor was born to Daniel Ellsworth and Mathilda (Fenstermacher) Van Vactor in Plymouth, Indiana on May 8, 1906. He completed three years of pre-medical education at Northwestern University before transferring to the School of Music, where he earned his BA (1928) and MA (1935) degrees. Additionally, he studied in Europe at the Wiener Akademie in Austria (1929), and at L'Ecole Normale in Paris (1931). In 1932, Van Vactor began his professional music career as a flutist with the Chicago Symphony, where he remained for thirteen years. During his time with the Chicago Symphony, Van Vactor served as the Symphony's Assistant Conductor in 1933 and 1934 and earned the Frederick Stock Scholarship in conducting in 1939. Stock then mentored him until Stock's death in 1942. During this time, Van Vactor also taught theory and conducted the chamber orchestra at his alma mater, Northwestern University, from 1936-1943. In 1943, Van Vactor moved to Kansas City, where he worked as the assistant conductor of the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra and as the Head of the Department of Theory and Composition in the Conservatory of Music until 1947. Van Vactor also undertook several tours to South America with the sponsorship of United States Department of State and the League of Composers during this time. He made one tour as part of a woodwind quintet (1941) and two others as the visiting conductor of the Rio de Janeiro Orchestra (1945) and Santiago de Chile Orchestra (1946). He also served as a visiting professor at Chile University during the 1945-1946 school year, where he had a profound impact on many young composers. Van Vactor came to Knoxville in 1947 to conduct the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, where he remained until his retirement 25 years later. That same year, he also founded the University of Tennessee's Fine Arts Department (now the School of Music) where he taught until 1976. During his time in Knoxville, Van Vactor composed several original pieces and received a Fulbright grant in 1957 to study comparative reactions of school children to educational concerts. "Every Child May Hear," a book by David Van Vactor and Katherine D. Moore (The University of Tennessee Press, 1960), describes the findings of this project. Among his many awards, Van Vactor was named "Composer Laureate of Tennessee" by the State Legislature in 1975 and was named Professor Emeritus of Composition and Flute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville upon his retirement. Van Vactor died in Los Angeles, California on March 24, 1994. He was survived by his wife, Virginia (Landreth) Van Vactor (1911-1995), and two children, Raven Harwood (nee Adriaen Virginia) and David Landreth Van Vactor.