William Thomas Sanger, the son of Samuel F. and Susan Thomas Sanger, was born on September 16, 1885 in Bridgewater, (Rockingham County) Virginia where he attended primary school at the academy associated with Bridgewater College until 1896.

The economic depression of the 1890s hit the Bridgewater area quite hard and the inability of Samuel Sanger to earn a living for his large family compelled him to take a salaried position with the Southern Railroad Company. The new job meant a move to Calverton, Virginia, where the family lived only one year before moving again to the larger community of Manassas, located about thirty miles south of Washington, D.C.

Tragically, the year 1898 ended with the death of Susan T. Sanger, and by the end of 1899 the family found themselves with a "new mother," actually the third wife of Samuel, his first wife having died years earlier leaving him with their one daughter. Shortly after the death of his first wife Samuel married Susan Thomas and the family was quickly increased to include William and his three sisters. Dr. Sanger notes in his 1971 autobiography, , that his family was so well integrated that his half-sister never knew she was born to another mother until she was eventually told much later.

A few months after the third marriage, the Sanger family was again uprooted when Samuel announced the big move to South Bend, Indiana where he had accepted the position of traveling secretary of the Mission Board of the Church of the Brethren. Samuel Sanger was a minister of the Church, holding its highest rank; however, since in those days no salary was paid to the Brethren clergy, cash income had to be sought elsewhere.

It is interesting to note that frequent moves of the family home was quite unusual in American culture at this time. Dr. Sanger's early experiences with such a variety of horizons certainly added to his future skills as expansive orator and visionary.

William Sanger returned to his Bridgewater roots to attend Bridgewater College in 1906 after graduating from South Bend High School in Indiana. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree quickly and by 1909 was once again in Indiana to work on his Master of Arts degree in psychology which he earned in 1910 from that state's university. After receiving his M.A. Sanger retraced his steps yet again to begin his teaching career at his Bridgewater alma mater.

The years 1910 through 1920 were busy ones for Sanger in his personal life and educational growth. These years also mark the start of his lifelong commitment to teaching. The appointment to the faculty at Bridgewater began Sanger's experience teaching a variety of subjects including English writing, history, philosophy, and Greek psychology. During the summer of 1911 Sanger did graduate work in psychology and Physiology at Columbia University.

He resumed his teaching duties at Bridgewater College during the academic year 1911-1912 and by the fall of 1912 Sanger had enrolled at Clark University to begin his dissertation work on the subject of senescence under the famed psychologist G. Stanley Hall with whom he developed a fast friendship. The summer of 1913 and 1914 were spent teaching at the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, as it was then known, while the academic year 1913-1914 was spent at Clark working on the dissertation. During the summer of 1913 Sanger married Sylvia Gray Burns whom he met while both were attending Bridgewater College. The academic year 1914-1915 brought Sanger's return to Bridgewater College and by the spring of 1915 he had returned to Clark University alone, leaving Sylvia working as a housemother at the college in Bridgewater. Sanger finished his dissertation and received his Ph.D. from Clark University in 1915. The academic year 1915-1916 brought Dr. Sanger back to Bridgewater College to resume his teaching duties.

The Sangers moved to Harrisonburg in 1917, where for two years Sanger acted as dean and head of the education department of the State Normal School for Women at Harrisonbrug (now James Madison University).

During the summer of 1920, the Sangers took a trip to California to visit Sanger's parents who had yet to see their grandson, Julian (born in the spring of 1918). Sanger took opportunity to teach graduate school at the University of Utah during this extended vacation. In fall of 1920 he returned to Bridgewater College to resume his liberal arts teaching responsibilities despite the offer an attractive position in the department of education at the University of Utah.

The Sangers moved to Richmond in 1921 after Sanger accepted the first full-time position as executive secretary of the Virginia State Teachers' Association where his duties included editing the official publication of the association. The summers of 1921 and 1922 were spent teaching at the University of Virginia.

By 1922 Sanger had accepted an administration position with the State Board of Education where he remained until 1925 when he was chosen to fill the role as the first full-time president of the Medical College of Virginia (MCV).

As the history of the growth of MCV demonstrates, Sanger led the medical school through over thirty years of tremendous growth both in reputation and capacity and its standing among medical schools in the southeast was due chiefly to his broad vision during the first half of the twentieth century. Sanger's retirement in 1956 marked the end of an era for the school. The position of chancellor was created for Sanger so he could continue in the capacity of advisor to the school. He remained active in the affairs of the College until his death in 1975 at the age of 89.