William Hoover Yawkey (August 22, 1875 – March 5, 1919) was an American business executive in the lumber and mining industries.

[3] The elder Yawkey agreed to buy the Tigers from Samuel F. Angus in 1903, but died before the deal closed.

[2] Frank Navin, then the Tigers' bookkeeper and vice president, persuaded the younger Yawkey to complete the deal.

A boathouse that Yawkey had constructed in 1917 in Hazelhurst, Wisconsin, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

[7] A cousin, Cyrus C. Yawkey, owned a lumber business and was a politician in Wisconsin.