Robert Palmer (July 16, 1934 – January 16, 2009) was an American advertising executive who became a vintner and one of the pioneering developers of the wine industry on the North Fork of New York's Long Island.
[1] He adopted the surname Palmer when he started working as he felt people found it too hard to spell.
He started a media buying service, called RJ Palmer, in 1979, which he sold in the 1990s but remained active in the business until two years before his death.
[1] After selling his interest in Kelly Nason, he bought land for his vineyard in 1983 in Aquebogue, in Suffolk County, New York, despite knowing almost nothing about the wine business.
One of the first major investors in the area, Palmer Vineyards produces up to 16,000 cases of wine annually, specializing in Cabernet Franc and sauvignon blanc.