O'Neil Ray Collins (9 March 1931 - April 8, 1989) was an American botanist, mycologist, and specialist in slime-mold genetics.

[1] Collins was born in Plaisance, Louisiana in 1931, and graduated from the local high school in 1948.

After serving the United States Army in Europe, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in botany in January 1957 from Southern University.

Collins later attended the University of Iowa and studied under Constantine J. Alexopoulos, receiving his master's in 1959 and doctorate in 1961.

[1] In 1968, Collins became the first black faculty member in the Botany Department of the University of California, Berkeley.