Ralph W. Cummings (1911-2001) was born in Reidsville, North Carolina, on 13 December 1911. He was the son of William and Sarah Elizabeth Huffhines Cummings. He graduated from Reidsville High School in 1928 and went on to North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University) where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1933. He earned a Ph.D. in Soil Science from Ohio State University in 1938.

Cummings worked as an assistant and associate professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, from 1937 until 1942. He joined the faculty at North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering in 1942 as the head of the Agronomy Department, a position he held until 1947. He held positions at North Carolina State College as first Associate Director, then Director, of the North Carolina Agricultural Experimental Station from 1948 until 1954, the head of the North Carolina Agricultural Mission to Peru from 1955 to 1956, the Administrative Dean for Research from 1969 to 1971, and finally, as an Emeritus Professor of Soil Science from 1977 until 1991.

Cummings was professionally involved in agricultural research and development for a number of other academic and private organizations as well. From 1956 until 1957 he was the field director and principal representative of the Rockefeller Foundation in India. From 1963 to 1968, Cummings served as Associate Director for Agricultural Sciences for the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City. He was the Ford Foundation's Agricultural Program Adviser for Asia and the Pacific from 1971 to 1972. He served as the Director of the International Rice Research Institute (IRII) in Manila, Philippines, in 1972; the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India, from 1972 until 1977; the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) from 1977 until 1982, and acting Director General of the International Irrigation Management Institute headquartered in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 1984.

Cummings was the recipient of the Ohio State University Distinguished Service Award in 1970, the Presidential End Hunger Award in 1988, the North Carolina State University Alumni Association Award in 1991, the Soil Science Society of America Distinguished Service Award in 1993,and the North Carolina State Outstanding Alumni Award in 1997. He received Honorary Degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University (Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India) in 1967, North Carolina State University in 1968, Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana, Punjab, India) in 1970, the Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, India) in 1971, and Ohio State University in 1992. He was awarded the Watauga Medal by North Carolina State University in 1995. The Cereal Research Lab at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute was renamed Cummings Laboratory in his honor.

Cummings was a member of the American Society of Agronomy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences,and Rotary International. He served as the vice president of the Rotary Club of Raleigh, North Carolina, from 1952 to 1954 and the president from 1953 to 1954.

Cummings married Mary Parrish (1913-1989) of Reidsville, North Carolina, in 1936 and they had four children: Ralph Waldo, Walter B., William K., Mary Ann Hardee. Cummings married Eunice Perkinson in 1993. He died 25 June 2001.