Sutherland was born on November 19, 1915 in Burlingame, Kansas.
In 1963, desiring to limit his duties to research, Sutherland moved to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville where he was a professor of physiology until 1973.
At the time of his death in 1974, Sutherland was a distinguished professor of biochemistry at University of Miami Medical School.
The titles were held by several men, until the death of John de Moravia, 9th Earl of Sutherland, when the title passed to his sister Elizabeth as he had no children.
Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland married Adam Gordon, whose surname belonged to several of the next Earls of Sutherland.
The family seat is Dunrobin Castle, near Golspie in the traditional county of Sutherland in Scotland.