William Jefferson (November 1951 – November 17, 1995) was an American Librarian and United Nations employee who was killed while serving in Bosnia. Jefferson was found shot to death near Banovici Bosnia. His killing was originally described as a criminal act, connected with robbing him of his valuables. American counter-terrorism officials were later to imply it was an act of terrorism.

Jefferson was from Camden, New Jersey.

Jefferson started working for the U.N. in its Dag Hammarskjöld Library in 1982. In 1992 he volunteered to serve on overseas U.N. missions, first serving in Somalia. Joe Sills, a U.N. spokesmen stated: