WILLIAM SOMMERS

1927 - 2019

SOMMERS, William William Sommers, Commissioner of Inspectional Services Under Ray Flynn, Dies at 92 William Anthony Sommers, former Commissioner of Inspectional Services under Ray Flynn, Foreign Service Officer and noted poet, died peacefully in his sleep on July 3rd at his home in Pittsboro, NC. He was 92 years old. The son of Greek and German immigrants, he was born on January 20, 1927 in Duluth, Minnesota. He attended Denfeld High School and served in the Navy during the final years of World War II. Through the GI Bill, he graduated from Middlebury College and received a Master's degree in public administration from Harvard's Littauer Center (now the JFK School of Government). In 1950, he married artist Joan Pokorney, also from Duluth. In the early 1960s, Mr. Sommers left his position as a town manager in New Jersey, and, taking a leap of faith, moved his family to Bangkok, Thailand, his first posting as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department's newly created USAID. Among the initial wave of USAID officers in Thailand, he went on to build a career as an international local development specialist that spanned forty years, sending him on assignments to Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Poland, Bosnia, Hungary, Egypt, Moldova, and Bruchko. Returning to the states later in his career, he was hired as Commissioner of Inspectional Services by Boston Mayor Ray Flynn to clean up the department after a series of scandals. He then worked as the Commissioner of Public Works for the City of Cambridge. In 2001, he retired from public service and, with his wife, moved to Pittsboro, NC. Mr. Sommers was a passionate aficionado of jazz, particularly Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, Mozart's harpsichord and violin duets, and John Philip Souza. He excelled at squash, playing at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club for many years, and later at the Manila Sports Club. During his time in Cairo, he became an avid amateur Egyptologist, and was a constant visitor to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Collection. His published works include five books of poetry, along with many short stories and essays, all chronicling his life and travels: The Ballad of Norasingh, The Dances of Shiva, The Five Names of Pharaoh, Vietnam: The Five Seasons, and The Teachable Heart. In 2017, he published his memoir "Foreign Vistas: Stories from a Life in the Foreign Service." Mr. Sommers leaves behind his children and three grandchildren. Joan, his beloved wife of 63 years, passed away in 2013. Among his many awards, his most prized included the Thai Government's highest civilian honor for service, and being named Poet Laureate of Fearrington, NC. The Memorial Service was private.

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