George Perle, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who helped to establish UC Davis as a significant center for new music composition and performance, died last week at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

Perle taught music at UC Davis from 1957 to 1961 and returned to campus several times in recent decades to work with music students.

“He was really one of the top composers of his generation. He was always finding new ways to think about music,” said Jerome Rosen, an emeritus professor and founding chair of the UC Davis Department of Music.

In addition to his contributions in the Department of Music, Perle helped to make the University of California Press a “powerhouse in music” publishing, said D. Kern Holoman, music professor and a University of California Press author.

—Claudia Morain