Paul A. Zartman was born in Indianapolis in 1931. He was the son of an air force pilot during the World War II era and went to 12 different grade schools and 3 different high schools, including Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. He attended Indiana University from 1949 to 1953. In 1993, he gave two speeches at the Indiana University campus: one to OUT, a campus organization for gays and lesbians, and another to Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, of which he was a member during his student days.