William Kelly Simpson

William Kelly Simpson (January 3, 1928 – March 24, 2017) was an American professor of Egyptology, Archaeology, Ancient Egyptian literature, and Afro-Asiatic languages at Yale University.^[1][2]

A young William Kelly Simpson

He was one of several co-directors of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Yale University Expedition to Abydos, Egypt, which conducts archaeological excavations of ancient sites.^[3] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1983.^[4]

Personal life

Simpson was born on January 3, 1928, in New York City, to Kenneth F. Simpson (1895-1941) and Helen-Louise Knickerbacker Porter (1893-1981).^[5]

He married Marilyn Ellen Milton (1931—1980), a granddaughter of philanthropists John Davison Rockefeller Jr. William and Marilyn have two children:

• Laura Knickerbacker Simpson (1954-2012)
• Abigail Rockefeller Simpson (born 1958), married Todd Mydland.

Simpson died on March 24, 2017, at the age of 89.^[6]

Literature

• Peter Manuelian (editor): Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1996 ISBN 0878463909

See also

• List of Egyptologists

References

1. Yale University Press. (2009). The Literature of Ancient Egypt. Retrieved on 08-03-2009.
2. The Cambridge University Catalogue. (2009). The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited. Retrieved on 08-03-2009.
3. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. (2007). The Pennsylvania-Yale Excavations at Abydos, Egypt. Retrieved 08-03-2009.
4. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
5. David Shavit, The United States in the Middle East: A Historical Dictionary (Greenwood Press, 1988: ISBN 0-313-25341-2)
6. "Beloved TD fellow passes at 89". yaledailynews.com. Retrieved 13 July 2017.