William Theodore de Bary was born on 9 August 1919 in Bronx, New York, USA. He was married to Mary Fanny Brett. He died on 14 July 2017 in Tappan, New York, USA.
Emeritus professor of Asian Studies at Columbia and author of about 30 books. He is the grand-nephew of noted German botanist Heinrich Anton de Bary, (Frankfurt 26 January 1831- Strasbourg,19 January, 1888). His children are also mainly in academia.