Robert J. Gorlin (January 11, 1923 – August 29, 2006) was an oral pathologist and academic at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.
Gorlin was born in Hudson, New York. After receiving an A.B. degree in 1943 from Columbia University, Gorlin volunteered for the Army, where he was instructed to apply to dental school. He graduated in 1947 from Washington University Dental School in St. Louis, Missouri, and then completed a master's degree in oral pathology from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), Iowa City, in 1956.
That same year, he joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Minneapolis, as an associate professor and chair of the divisions of oral histology and oral pathology. At the time of his death, he was the UM Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Oral Pathology. He published over 600 articles in a variety of topics, and held joint appointments with the University of Minnesota's departments of pediatric medicine, laboratory medicine and pathology, obstetrics and gynecology, otolaryngology and dermatology.
Gorlin is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and children, Jed and Cathy.