University of Washington professor William Glen Lutey was born to William J. Lutey and Martha Louise Lutey (née Williams) on October 14, 1905, in Butte, Montana. He attended Dartmouth College from 1924 to 1925, but received his B.A. (1930) and M.A. (1931) from the University of Washington. His master's thesis discussed the philosophy of Boethius. William Lutey served the University of Washington as an associate, 1934-1940, teaching in the college of Liberal Arts. He married Barbara Fritch of Seattle on September 12, 1935, and the couple had two children, Robert C. Lutey and Marilyn L. Lutey. From 1940 to 1949 he served in the role of instructor at the university. During this period he was also a deck officer for Army transports (1942-1944), teaching navigation and seamanship. In 1944-1945 he was officer in charge of instructors for the U.S. War Department Navigation Schools. In 1949, William Lutey became an assistant professor and director of General Studies at the UW. He retired in 1969.

William Lutey's professional associations included the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Aesthetics, and the UW Men's Faculty Club. He wrote a manuscript on celestial navigation and took a special interest in aesthetics, particularly music.