Henry Ellsworth Parker (February 14, 1928 – September 29, 2018) was an American politician who served as Connecticut State Treasurer from 1975 to 1986.

He was a star athlete at the Frederick Douglass High School, captaining the football and basketball teams and serving as the student council president.

Declining an invitation to play for the Harlem Globetrotters after his military service ended, Parker instead enrolled at the Hampton Institute, graduating with his bachelor's degree in education in 1956.

While unsuccessful, Parker strengthened African American constituencies' influence in the Democratic Party, traditionally dominated by Italian and Irish establishment figures.

The political base he developed during these campaigns cemented his status in the Democratic Party and made a run for statewide office likely during the 1970s.

[2] He wrote a New York Times opinion in 1979 highlighting the role of the state treasury in promoting corporate social responsibility among banks.

[6] Parker was reelected in November 1978, defeating the Republican nominee, Margaret Melady of Fairfield, by a wide margin.

Effective February 3, 1986,[10] Parker resigned to serve as senior vice president of the Atalanta Sosnoff Capital Corporation in New York City.