William Sims Thurman (March 17, 1931–March 9, 2019) was a classicist whose major contribution to scholarship is his English translation of Justinian's Thirteen Edicts (The Thirteen Edicts of Justinian; Translated and Annotated by William Sims).
[2] Thurman earned Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a student of noted classicist and translator Clyde Pharr.
[3] Pharr focused on Roman law towards the end of his career and is best known for his translation of the Theodosian Code, but he also began an English translation of the Code of Justinian that he never completed.
[5] From Harvard, Thurman went to the University of North Carolina at Asheville where he began its classics program.
[6] He was a member of the Eta Sigma Phi National Honorary Classical Languages fraternity.