William Edward Lew was born on July 1, 1865, in Pawtuckettsville, Massachusetts. Lew was a classically trained musician, having studied piano at the Boston Conservatory of Music. He taught at a wide variety of institutions of higher learning throughout the south, including Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, and Miles Memorial College in Birmingham, Alabama. From 1916 to 1918, he was director of music at what is now known as North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Lew died in New York on January 30, 1949.