David Kent Wyatt (September 21, 1937 – November 14, 2006) was an American historian and author who studied Thailand.

Before receiving his doctorate, Wyatt accepted a teaching position at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies–where he taught until 1968.

After teaching for a year at the University of Michigan, he returned to the Cornell Department of History in 1969–the same year he served as the doctoral advisor to the late historian Benjamin Batson–and taught there until his retirement in 2002.

[3] Wyatt was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995, but continued to travel extensively until his death.

He died at the age of 69 on November 14, 2006, from complications of emphysema and congestive heart failure in the Hospicare Residence in Ithaca, New York.