Sir Robert Mayer CH KCVO (5 June 1879 – 9 January 1985) was a German-born British philanthropist, businessman, and a major supporter of music and young musicians.
Initially he worked in the lace trade, and then, moving to London in 1896, became a banker, whilst continuing his piano studies with Fanny Davies and others.
[citation needed] His first wife, the soprano Dorothy Moulton Piper[1] (d. 1974), an avant garde singer[2] whom he married in 1919, encouraged him to continue his interest in music.
Later in that year Mayer, joined by Joyce Grenfell and Robin Ray, appeared as a guest on the BBC TV quiz Face The Music.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Bernard Keeffe played music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Arnold and Jean Sibelius, the most requested works as the result of a poll.