Reginald Van Trump Truitt (August 12, 1890 – April 11, 1991) was an American zoologist, Army officer, and college lacrosse player and coach.

Truitt founded the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory at what is now the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

[2] Truitt served in the United States Army Air Service during the First World War.

[2] In 1923, Truitt, Curley Byrd, Burton Shipley, and Geary Eppley founded the M Club, an athletic alumni association, as a means to keep former student-athletes actively involved with the university.

[2] Truitt continued his post-graduate education at Maryland, where he wrote his master's thesis on the oyster industry.

[2] After his coaching tenure, he remained active in the sport of lacrosse, and in the 1920s and 1930s, Truitt served as an official.

He evaluated potential sites in Virginia, and on Maryland's Eastern Shore, but finally settled on Solomons, MD home to an active crab processing facility, in part because the people of Solomons gave him a small building from which to base his operations.

From its founding, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory offered summer programs for students, and provided research space for marine biologists.

"[7] During the Second World War, Truitt worked for the government researching underwater sound, for which he received a commendation from the United States Navy.

[9] After his death, the Truitt Memorial Fund was established to award scholarships for study in the marine sciences at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory.