Robert Edwin Bonner (April 28, 1824 – July 6, 1899)[1] was an American publisher, now best known for The New York Ledger, a weekly story newspaper.

He owned famous trotting horses and he was a prominent supporter of the Presbyterian Church and Pastor John Hall.

He worked at The Merchant's Ledger, a financial weekly, in the advertising department and became involved with printing that newspaper.

He purchased it in 1851 and changed the name to The New York Ledger in 1855, when he sought a wider readership by running articles by well-known writers.

[6] A bronze copy of the Cyrus Dallin sculpture is in the collection of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York.

Bonner was a philanthropist who preferred not to make his donations public, but he was a known supporter of Princeton University and contributed $131,000 towards the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.