William James Clench (24 October 1897 – 22 February 1984) was an American malacologist, professor at Harvard University and curator of the mollusk collection in the malacology department of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard.

Johnson introduced Clench to such men as William F. Clapp, who was the curator of mollusks at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ).

He then went on to pursue his PhD at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, in mollusk study, with a Hinsdale Fellowship.

Their eldest son, Harry Kendon Clench (1925–1979), would become a well-known lepidopterist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

Clench left Ann Arbor in 1925, to take a position at the Kent Scientific Museum.