Tom Palumbo was a United States photographer and director. He was born in Molfetta Italy in 1921. His family moved when he was about 12 years old to New York City. As a young man Palumbo was employed first building scale models for ships in an engineering company. Later he was employed as a assistant by photographer James Abbe.
He was a staff photographer of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, where he worked with the great art directors, Alex Liberman and Alexi Brodovitch. He was a vice-president of creative productions at Ted Bates, where he oversaw all TV commercials. He was a life-long member of the Actors Studio. He taught photography at Rhode Island School of Design, and he taught directing at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He directed plays off-Broadway and in regional theatres. His last production was An Evening of Proust at Lincoln Center. He was a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab.
Tom Palumbo was married to Patricia Bosworth. Tom died in October 2008.