He was the son of Thomas Vincent Cator Sr. (1851-1920),[2] a lawyer and politician who ran for office for the Populist Party in California in the late 19th century.

He had a sister Marie (1883-1968), who became a writer and poet and first married Max Wardall (from 1902 to 1912) and later the famous figure skating couch Gustave Lussi (from 1921 to around 1930).

[5] In 1922, Cator wrote the composition operetta for the play Inchling, written by Ira Mallory Remsen, that was a story of an inch worm and its struggle for wings, which captured the fantasies of young children.

[6][7] The music of theatre, church, children, radio and phonograph has been made lovelier by his compositions.

The newest musical scale in existence is his creation: Aura-Modality.Cator died of a heart attack on April 9, 1931, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California at the age of 45.