Richard William Timm (March 2, 1923 – September 11, 2020) was a Catholic Priest, educator, zoologist, and development worker.

Born with German ancestry from both sides on March 2, 1923, in Michigan City, Indiana, USA,[3] Timm was the second of four siblings – elder brother Bob, who died on Okinawa in World War II, and younger sisters Mary Jo Schiel and Genevieve Gantner.

[4] His scientific expeditions involved a landscape spanning from Antarctica Penguin Colonies to the Mangrove of South Asia.

[15] He conducted a study on over 1000 workers from 51 export-oriented ready-made garment factories while serving the JPC as the executive secretary.

Timm visited the Chittagong Hill Tracts and authored three books where he focused on the deprivation of land rights of the indigenous people of those areas.

[13][17] Timm founded the Coordinator Council for Human Rights in Bangladesh (CCHRB) and served as its president for three terms, until 1993.

His letters written to Rohde served to build public opinion around the world and especially in the United States against the war in Bangladesh.

[20] After the liberation war of Bangladesh, Timm actively took part in the newborn country's reconstruction work, together with the UN, USAID, CORR (Christian Organization for Relief and Rehabilitation, later Caritas) and CRS.

[16] On November 12, 1970, a great cyclone struck the coastal areas of East Pakistan and killed at least 50,000 people.