Zimmerman was trained as a child in classical music, but quickly abandoned his studies to pursue his love for ragtime when his magic teacher played a honky-tonk record\n', ' by "one of the great American composers, Scott Joplin." \n', '

In 1956 he enrolled at Stanford University where he received degrees in civil and mechanical engineering. Zimmerman later went on to design games for Mattel, Inc. As a freshman, a classmate introduced him to the rags of Scott Joplin. But it wasn’t until 1973, when the movie The Sting began the revival of ragtime with a musical score by Marvin Hamlisch, which adapted the original rags of Scott Joplin, that Zimmerman turned his attention to performing and recording. In 1974, he released the five-LP collection ‘’Scott Joplin: His Complete Works’’ on the Murray Hill Records label.\n', '

In 1967 Zimmerman, along with Dave Bourne, Albert Huerta, Chuck McClure, and Bill Mitchell, founded the ‘’Maple Leaf Club’’, for which he edited its newsletter, "The Rag Times". In 1998 the ‘’Maple Leaf Club’’ merged with the ‘’Rose Leaf Club’’.\n', '

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