Ramer was born in Miami, Florida and raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a young man Ramer attended both the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he founded Blue Pearl Music. Ramer enjoyed a successful career as a musician and performer until in 1982 a chance meeting with Chilean statesman and businessman Fernando Flores led him to develop interests in technology, networks, and communications. Ramer subsequently co-founded Ramer and Associates, Inc. and partnered with Action Technologies Inc. to design and distribute a groupware software program called The Coordinator, one of the first email system and wide area networking platform for personal computers. Ramer and Associates Inc. was subsequently acquired by Flores' Business Design Associates.
