Derek Albert Pearsall (1931–2021) was a prominent medievalist and Chaucerian who wrote and published widely on Chaucer, Langland, Gower, manuscript studies, and medieval history and culture. He was the co-director, Emeritus, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York; Gurney Professor of English Literature, Emeritus, Harvard University. He earned a B.A. in 1951 and an M.A. in 1952 from the University of Birmingham (UK). In 1998 he delivered the British Academy's Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture.