Defender of the Back Bay dies

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Frances Robinson, who ardently defended the Back Bay

from development with her husband Frank in the early 1970s, has died. She

was 82.

Robinson died early Saturday morning of heart failure at her Dover

Shores home, according to longtime friend and fellow environmentalist Dr.

Jack Skinner. She had been in poor health for a long time.

“Every time I bicycle around the Back Bay, I say ‘Thank God, for the

Robinsons,”’ Skinner said. “Because they saved one of the greatest areas

of open space . . . It’s like saving Central Park for the city of New

York. It was something that was a wonderful gift to Southern California.”

The Robinsons, known in town as “Fran and Frank,” made their biggest

mark beginning in 1969, when they sued to stop Orange County from handing

over the Back Bay to the Irvine Co. for homes.

During the couple’s battle with the Irvine Co., president Bill Mason

derided Frances Robinson as a “birdbrained housewife.” But Robinson would

have the last laugh.

In 1973, a judge validated the couple’s claim that the land should be

kept open for public use. The court ruling paved the way for the state to

buy the 750 acres and designate it a protected ecological preserve. The

state also bought 140 acres from the Irvine Co. for $3.5 million.

“It was a classic example of a grass roots movement,” Frank Robinson

said. “But it took a tremendous amount of energy.”

Frances Robinson was born on July 20, 1918, to humble beginnings. She

attended Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, Los Angeles City College and

UC Berkeley.

The seed for Robinson’s environmental activism was planted, when she

and husband Frank took their son Jay to a Malibu beach where they noticed

signs warning them to “keep out.”

The couple moved to Newport Beach in 1962.

The Robinsons have served as a font of information and inspiration for

later generations of environmental activists.

“The Back Bay was preserved as a result of their efforts,”

environmentalist Susan Skinner Caustin said. “They are the grandparents

of environmental activism in this area.”

A memorial service for Robinson will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at

the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center, 2301 University Drive,

Newport Beach. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent

to the Upper Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends, P.O. Box 2001, Newport

Beach, CA, 92659.