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Ralph J. Lamberti (born November 14, 1934) is an American politician who is a member of the Democratic Party, and held the office of borough president of Staten Island, New York from 1984 to 1989.

Ralph J. Lamberti was born and raised in the West Brighton section of Staten Island. His grandparents settled in Staten Island shortly after arriving from Cava de' Tirreni, Italy, in 1899. In the late 1940s, Lamberti attended Curtis High School and played football under Coach Andrew Barberi, who is considered one of the greatest football coaches in Staten Island history. Lamberti also attended Wagner College and the College of Staten Island. From 1955 to 1957, Lamberti was enlisted in the United States Army, and was stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia.

Lamberti held many roles in public service, in 1961 he was named acting assistant director of the Island office of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, and was later appointed confidential assistant to the Motor Vehicles commissioner and the department's acting director of investigation. In 1965, Lamberti ran as the Republican candidate for the state Assembly, but withdrew before the election. In 1977, he was re appointed Deputy Borough President of Staten Island by Anthony Gaeta.

On November 10, 1984, Lamberti was sworn in as the 12th Borough President of Staten Island. In the ceremony he noted "My grandfather dug ditches and corked pipes for the water department Now, a century later, his grandson [has become] president of the borough he so cherished." In the late 1980s, Lamberti led staunch opposition to the proposed City Charter revision abolishing the New York City Board of Estimate. At the time, this board was responsible for budget and land use decisions for the city. It gave the mayor, comptroller and city council president each two votes on the board, while the five borough presidents got one. The proposed revisions would significantly reduce the power of borough presidents and resulted in Lamberti, among other elected officials, making secession from NYC a political issue on Staten Island. In 1986, Lamberti appointed a 15 member committee yesterday to study whether it is economically and legally feasible for Staten Island to secede from New York City, stating "We do not want to secede from the city of New York," adding, "If you take away our voice in city government and reduce us to a spectator, we may have no other choice." In 1987, Lamberti made a controversial deal with then New York City Mayor Ed Koch by which the four homeless shelters originally planned for Staten Island were not built in return for accepting a new city jail on Staten Island. In 1988, Lamberti announced that New York City has agreed to limit the jail from what was originally planned for 4,000 beds on a draft environmental impact statement to a limit of 1,000 beds, and stated that this amounted to "our fair share" of city jail space. On March 22, 1989, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided that the New York City Board of Estimate violates constitutional protections of one man, one vote – since Lamberti's vote, at that time represented about 400,000 Staten Islanders, and carried the same weight as Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden's, representing 2.3 million. This decision led to Lamberti being the last Staten Island Borough President to serve on the New York City Board of Estimate.

In 2001 NECO awarded Lamberti the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. This medal is presented to American citizens "who have distinguished themselves within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life". In 2007 he was given the Outstanding Community Member Award by Wagner College. St. John's University honored Lamberti with an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree.

A lifelong Staten Islander, Lamberti lives with his wife in the Sunset Hill neighborhood. They have four adult children and five grandchildren.