William Sumner was an anthropologist and archaeologist specializing in ancient Iraqi civilization as well as a former Director of the Oriental Institute. Sumner was educated at the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the Navy upon graduating in 1952, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. While on a tour of duty in Iran, he became interested in the history of the region and took a course on ancient Iraq at the University of Tehran, taught by University of Chicago alumnus Ezat Negahban. Sumner resigned from military service in 1964 to pursue graduate studies in anthropology and obtained his Ph.D. eight years later from the University of Pennsylvania.

For the next 18 years Sumner served on the faculty of Ohio State University. From 1971 through 1978, he also conducted his most significant field work, in the Fars region in Iran. Under the aegis of the University of Pennsylvania, Sumner directed the first scientific excavation at Tall-i Malyan, the ancient Elamite city of Anshan, at the Banesh, Kaftari, and Middle Elamite phases. From the ancient settlement patterns suggested in the project’s findings, he proposed that three distinct irrigation systems supplied the city’s resources; in subsequent work, he also compared the merits of full coverage survey methods to sampling and addressed the role of ethnographic analogy in analyzing the relationship between population and settlement area. Sumner oversaw the publication of the three-volume monograph series of excavation reports from the site, published by the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

In 1989, Sumner came to the University of Chicago to work as Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and as Director of the Oriental Institute. During his tenure, a new wing of the Institute was built, the largest expansion since its construction in 1931, in order to create space for climate control equipment and better artifact and archival storage. Sumner facilitated the implementation of new computational technologies for conservation efforts and supported the reinstallation of the museum’s permanent galleries.