Robert Edward Neale (born June 23, 1929) is an American minister, psychologist, paperfolder and magician, who wrote several books on the combination of these topics.
He studied at Amherst College and Union Theological Seminary (New York City), working there with Paul Tillich.
After working from 1954 to 1957 as a minister for the United Church of Christ, he returned to Union Theological Seminary for doctoral study in 1958.
He took a faculty position in the psychology of religion there in 1962, completed his PhD in 1964, and earned tenure in 1967.
The death of his brother in the same year sparked his interest in death, and he spent six months in England on sabbatical as a guest chaplain, working with the newly formed hospice movement there.