William Bruneau began his post-secondary education in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan, taking degrees in history and in education. He completed his doctorate at the University of Toronto, spending years in Paris and Oxford. He was a member of faculty at UBC from 1971 to 2003. He has lately been a member of the regional council of the Canadian Music Centre, and as a pianist, has been a vigorous proponent and performer of chamber music. When the opportunity arose to write a biography of Jean Coulthard, it was impossible to resist. The project was a collaboration with David Gordon Duke—an accomplished musicologist and composer. Combining history, music, and biography, Bill found the work on Coulthard allowed him to indulge his enthusiasms, and led to the creation of a permanent reminder of Coulthard's person and work. In 2005, he accepted a contract to edit and write a volume in the Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. That project, in collaboration with McMaster historian Stephen Heathorn, is to be published in 2011.