Eric Eden Sumner (December 17, 1923 – January 19, 1993) was an Austrian-American engineer and scientist, well known for his contributions to the early developments of switching systems.
[1][2] Born in Vienna, he moved to New York City where he went to Brooklyn Technical High School, earned a B.S.
Following this, he led the underwater transmission laboratory projects on submarine surveillance systems (1962–67), the transmission media division in Atlanta, Georgia (1967–71) and the loop division (1971-) where he oversaw development of computerized network management systems.
After retiring (1989) he served as president of the IEEE (1991) and was chairman of New Jersey Inventor's Hall of Fame.
The IEEE Eric E. Sumner award includes a bronze medal and was instituted in his name (1995).