William Armstrong Percy, III, (born December 10, 1933) is a professor, historian, encyclopedist, and gay activist. His mother Anne Minor Dent was raised by her widowed uncle, the distinguished Memphis lawyer Dent Minor. Following the completion of his military service, Percy received from the University of Tennessee his B.A. in 1957. He then spent a year obtaining a "Certificato" from the University of Naples. He went on to earn a M.A. from Cornell University and an A.M., and in 1964 his Ph.D. from Princeton.