Robert F. Panara (8 July 1920 - 20 July 2014) was a poet, a professor and a co-founder of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and the National Theater of the Deaf.

[1] Panara is considered to be a pioneer in deaf culture studies in the United States.

Panara was born in 1920 in The Bronx of New York City, and lost his hearing as a child from spinal meningitis.

[4][5] Panara was very interested in the theater and developed some of the first plays for deaf actors and audiences.

[1] In 2017 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp in its Distinguished Americans series honoring Robert Panara.