He grew up in Gum Springs, Virginia, until his parents separated, and his father lost his business.
At Iowa, Williams served as associate dean of the Law School, from 1977 to 1993, where he oversaw admissions, financial aid, student and faculty recruitment, and student support, and he served as associate vice president of academic affairs from 1991 to 1993.
[14][15] While dean, the size of the faculty increased by 40 percent, the number of named chairs and professorships doubled, and $25 million was raised from alumni of approximately 7,000 graduates.
[18] During his tenure at Ohio State, Williams also served as the president of the Association of American Law Schools and his autobiographical book, Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, (Dutton, 1995) won the 1995 Los Angeles Times Book Award.
During his tenure as president of the City College of New York, Williams served as chair of the Commission on Access, Diversity, and Excellence (CADE) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
Williams moderated and presented at the 2001 Association of American Law Schools annual meeting.
[35] Notably, he received the National Bar Association's A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of Human and Civil Rights (1999); Governor's Tribute to African-American Leaders of Excellence in State Service (2004) from New York Governor George Pataki; Austrian Decoration for Science and Art in the Division of for Science and Art, Vienna, Austria (2006); Proclamation of Dr. Gregory Howard Williams Day and Honorary Mayor-President by Mayor Kip Holden of Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2006); Key to the City from Mayor Daniel Canan of Muncie, Indiana (2006);[36] Langston Hughes Award from The City College of New York for contributions to the Arts and Letters (2009); Bridges for a Just Community Distinguished Service Citation (2012); and George Washington University Law School Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award (2015).
[38] Williams also received honorary doctorate degrees from the California Western School of Law (1997), Ball State University (1999),[39] College of Wooster (2000), New York Law School (2009),[40] Skidmore College (2010),[41] and Columbia University (2016).
[42] Williams published autobiography, Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black – was awarded the 1995 Los Angeles Times Book of the Year.
[49][50] Williams has been a featured author on Dateline NBC, Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Nightline, NPR, and public lectures.
Their children are Natalia Dora, Zachary Benjamin, Anthony Bîadîmir, Carlos Gregory.