Who Does this Signature Belong to on my mid century oil painting - Please Help ??  

Pre-primed canvas.
Blue upholstery tacks.
The materials and construction of your painting are quite common and inconclusive as to region of origin. Sometimes these things were shipped unstretched to save costs and then stretched as needed for the local market. Yours appears to remain on its original strainer.
Sorry, I really can't offer much beyond that.

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It's Veteran's Day here today, Mr. Ado.
Somehow your portrait seems appropos.
And I quite like it regardless. Successful portraiture is rare because it's so very difficult to accomplish.

That could
possibly be the first oil painting of a man boob that I've seen. Well done.

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Good technique
Yes the technique is good BUT he looks very sad... I prefer my little gypsy girl with the gold earrings!

I much prefer Toms lugubrious old man with flabby tits to the OP painting, sorry Tangletree.

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Much Better!
I prefer the one-armed man too. Thanks Jim!
I do feel fairly convinced that this painter was at least aiming higher, for better or worse, taste aside. There is a directness and honesty that I like much more, and the artist makes some real choices with arrangement of space, and does their best to get beyond the usual "head in the middle of the rectangle" composition problem that makes many portraits so bland and predictable.
Tell your student friend to keep up the good work! (Or is this one of yours from way back? LOL) Just kidding but you never know...
This looks like a guy I know too... but his name is Dave.
There is more to a good portrait than flattery, and this painting makes a good argument for that, in my opinion.

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Julian Freud wanna-be ?
If we're gonna chat about art (painting), maybe we could stick to the subject at hand ?
The ready-to-hang stretcher painting in the OP certainly seems to scream "commercial art" to me. The paint was clearly applied to the canvas prior to mounting on the current stretcher (as tktoo suggests) -- with framing, if any, at the discretion of the dealer or the purchaser. Wouldn't you love to know when and where this was made -- and sold ?
There's a south-of-the-border heritage evident in the subject matter. Could this have been produced in a "factory" in Amsterdam or Brussels (for instance), for sale in Acapulco ?

Hmmm
I just bought this.

Perfect for a psychiatrist's waiting room.
Or, maybe not...

Scary!
The gypsy girl was purchased in the UK, at auction - would love to know its history too - thanks to everyone who has commented

SDR.. Do you mean ....
Lucien Freud?
And yeah, I agree, the original painting discussed is right off the assembly line.
Its hard to give a hoot about the look on her face when its clearly a cookie cutter deal, ya know?
Yeah Mark, "John Wayne" is the only way to save this painting.

Jeebus tktoo....
That is an IN YOUR FACE face.