M

arilyn Robinson, 93, 
of Aventura, Fla., died 
Nov. 5, 2023. 
Marilyn was 
born in Toledo, 
Ohio. At an early 
age, she was 
encouraged to 
enroll in art class-
es at the Toledo 
Museum of Art 
to enhance her 
natural artistic abilities. There 
she was exposed to classical art. 
She graduated from Scott High 
School, class of 1948, majoring 
in art. Upon graduation, she 
worked in the art department of 
a local paper company. 
She married and devoted her 
attention and talents to their four 
children. During this period, 
she also led adult Great Books 
groups, advancing critical, reflec-
tive thinking and social and civic 
engagement of people of all ages. 
When her youngest child 
entered school, Marilyn entered 
college at Butler University, 
taking 10 years to earn a B.A. 
at Wayne State University in 
Detroit. She graduated Phi Beta 
Kappa and majored in English 
literature and French. She then 
taught high school English for 
several years at Ferndale High 
School and during the summers 
worked for the Neighborhood 
Youth Corps. 
At that time in her life, art was 
her avocation. She took a class 
here and there at the Bloomfield 
Art Center and from private 
teachers, where she met and 
later married Marvin Robinson. 
Together they moved to Florida 
and traveled extensively through-
out the world. 
In Florida, she returned to 
her art. She attended classes at 
Broward Community College, 
Florida Atlantic University and 

the Broward Art Guild. There 
were also seminars with Miles 
Batt, Paul Jenkins, Winifred 
Godfrey and Jeanne Dobie. For 
22 years, she was a docent at the 
now named NSU Art Museum 
Fort Lauderdale, where she 
shared her love of art and devel-
oped treasured friendships with 
other docents and the museum’s 
curator. 
Marilyn was a prolific painter 
and often entered her paintings 
in juried sidewalk shows. Her 
paintings are primarily con-
cerned with women and the 
female condition. The acrylic 
series called A Woman’s Place
considers the options, dilemmas 
and fears of the women in today’s 
changing society. Her flowers 
(oils) reflect femininity, strength 
and growth. 
After her husband died, 
Marilyn became active in var-
ious women’s organizations: 
American Association of 
University Women, Women’s 
Consortium, the League of 
Women Voters, OWL (Older 
Women’s League); in the latter, 
she later served as national pres-
ident. 
She created a women’s invest-
ment group, led financial and 
health seminars; lobbied Florida’s 
legislature to eliminate the state’s 
financial discrimination against 
women and fought for preventive 
women’s health care. In 2004, as 
part of “Women Inspiring Hope 
and Possibility,
” she was induct-
ed into the Broward County 
Women’s Hall of Fame for “her 
significant contribution to soci-
ety and to the progress and free-
dom of women.
” 
Ten years later, in 2014, 
Marilyn chose to move into the 
Vi at Aventura and began a new 
chapter in her life, becoming a 
part of a community that felt like 

An Artist & Advocate

Marilyn 
Robinson

80 | NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 
J
N

OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY

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