Robert Stuart (November 22, 1852 - January 27, 1926) was an American businessman who was one of the founders of the Quaker Oats Company.

In 1885, the Stuarts entered into a business partnership with competitor Henry Parsons Crowell, proprietor of the Quaker Mill Company in Ravenna, Ohio[3] in an attempt to compete against the much larger oatmeal business run by Ferdinand Schumacher, the "Oatmeal King".

Thus, he asked to join their business, thus forming the Consolidated Oatmeal Company, with Crowell as president, Stuart as vice-president, and Schumacher as treasurer.

This company survived the wake of the Panic of 1893 by consolidating its facilities into two mills, one at Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the other at Akron, Ohio.

At that time, the Quaker Oats Company was doing $16 million of sales annually, selling wheat cereals, farina, hominy, cornmeal, baby food, and animal feed.