Willis Charles Patterson (born November 27, 1930) is an African-American bass-baritone, editor, music arranger, and professor emeritus/longtime Associate Dean of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. A Fulbright Scholar and the winner of the Marian Anderson Award, he has performed in opera houses and concert halls internationally. He has served as president of the National Association of Negro Musicians and as executive secretary of the National Black Music Caucus. In 1977 he edited what The New York Times described as a "groundbreaking anthology of black art songs."