Timothy Francis LaHaye (April 27, 1926 – July 25, 2016) was an American Baptist evangelical Christian minister who wrote more than 85 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-authored with Jerry B. Jenkins.

He was a founder of the Council for National Policy, a conservative Christian advocacy group. LaHaye opposed homosexuality, believing it to be immoral and unbiblical. He was a critic of Roman Catholicism and a believer in conspiracy theories regarding the Illuminati.

LaHaye has been called "one of the most influential evangelicals of the late twentieth century" and, along with his wife Beverly LaHaye, he helped shape the beliefs and organizations of the Christian right.