Ronald Lee Robinson, 76, passed away peacefully on April 7, 2026, following a hard fought illness.

Born June 3, 1949, to Marcella Thorpe and the late Booker T. Robinson,  Ron was the eldest of the five Robinson children. He spent the entirety of his childhood in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, bossing his siblings around, engaging in hijinks with life-long friends, developing a love of hats and Stacy Adams, and learning the importance of family amongst the innumerable Thorpe and Robinson cousins.

Ron attended DeAndreis High School, graduating in 1967 as a standout football player and track star.   He left St. Louis to study education at the University of Wisconsin – Stout in Menomonie, continuing to play football, pledging Phi Beta Omega, and based on report cards discovered posthumously, still engaging in hijinks.  It was at Stout that Ron met Judi Mable, the young woman that would become his wife of nearly 43 years.

After a lifetime of too-cold winters, following their wedding in 1974, Ron and Judi settled in Miami, Florida, where Ron embarked in a career in telecommunication. Spending three decades as an award-winning B2B sales executive meant a lot of travel, including relocations to Phoenix and Atlanta, and a ginormous pre-market cell phone that had its own carrying case.

After the death of his wife in 2017, Ron fully retired and returned to his beloved St. Louis in 2020 to become a full-time Renaissance man.  Much time was spent enjoying concerts, museums, playing guitar, horology, chess, aviation history, and cheering for the Canes and Cowboys. The vigorous racquetball games of his younger days had been supplanted by pickleball during his twilight years, but he rests easy knowing he never lowered himself by taking up golf.

Although Ron was a consummate “Girl Dad,” instilling in his daughters his love of music, reading, and the beach, he was delighted by his grandsons and their shared enthusiasm for art and sports.

Ron is survived by his daughters and grandsons Danielle Robinson & Carter Lytle of Alexandria, Virginia, and Kari Robinson & Sean Innis of Atlanta, Georgia; his mother Marcella Robinson of St. Louis, Missouri; his sisters Pamela Jackson and Patti Ann (Larry) Pullman of Aurora, Colorado, and brother David (Sharon) Robinson of St. Louis, Missouri, and a host of beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, and niblings. He was preceded in death by his father Booker, brother Michael, and wife Judith (neé Mable) Robinson.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests memorial gifts be directed to the Ronald L. and Judith I. Robinson Memorial Fund at the UW–Stout Foundation & Alumni Association. Donations by check should be made payable to “UW–Stout Foundation,” with “Ronald L. and Judith I. Robinson Memorial Fund” included in the memo line, and mailed to: Louis Smith Tainter House, 320 S. Broadway St., Menomonie, WI 54751; online donations can be made at https://bit.ly/4dCULRx.