Richard D. Robinson, a professor at MIT for nearly three decades, passed away Sept. 5, 2009, in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was 88.
A memorial reception will be held Sept. 19 at the family home in Gig Harbor.
During his 26 years at MIT, he founded the study of international business management at the Sloan School of Management and helped establish the universitys post-war relationship with the Peoples Republic of China in 1979.
He authored 16 books.
Mr. Robinson earned degrees from the University of Washington and the Harvard Graduate School of Business, and received his PhD from MIT.
He spent a year at the London School of Oriental and African Studies studying Turkish history, literature and language, and Islamic law.
At the close of WW II, Mr. Robinson was assigned to military intelligence in Korea, where he uncovered a plot by South Korean rightists to provoke North Korea into a preemptive attack on the south. He later published Betrayal of a Nation, an analysis of the situation.
Mr. Robinson moved to Turkey in 1947.
Returning to the US in 1959, he taught at Harvard and then went to MIT.
In 1979, he met Carol Ann Goldman in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. They were married on Nov. 11, 1980.
Mr. Robinson chaired the Bellingham-based Florence R. Kluckhohn Center for the Study of Values for several years prior to this death.
His family always took top priority in his affections, time, effort and resources, his loved ones said.
Mr. Robinson is survived by his wife Carol Ann Robinson; children Linda (Kevin) McCaffrey, Kermit (Diane) Robinson, Wendy (Larry Murray) Robinson; stepchildren Steve (Trish), Michael (Kelly Pierson) Schreiber, Terri Schreiber, Julie Schreiber, Eric Schreiber; five grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Contributions may be made to the Hamlin Robinson School for Dyslexic children, 10211 12th Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98168; or the Minerva Scholarship, PO Box 2705, Gig Harbor, WA 98335.
