Back Bay loses a longtime friend

Paul Clinton

Frank Robinson, one-half of a husband and wife team that successfully

lobbied for the perpetual preservation of the Upper Newport Bay

estuary in the 1970s, died Thursday. He was 84.

Robinson, who died early Thursday morning after a long illness,

will always be linked in memory with wife Frances, who died nearly

two years ago, for stopping an Irvine Co. marina plan in the Back

Bay, local environmentalist and friend Bob Caustin said.

“Frances wanted it done,” Caustin said of the Robinsons’ activism.

“Frank made it happen.”

Caustin said he formed his own Defend the Bay in 1996 with a

$5,000 gift from Frank.

Frank Robinson, who lived in the same Dover Shores home from 1961,

was remembered Thursday as a focused, principled man whose tireless

work on causes he believed in won him respect and admiration from

those who know him.

Since Frances died in 2001 at 82, Frank Robinson has had a series

of medical ailments, said Jay Robinson, his 56-year-old son.

“[His] death this morning was totally unexpected,” Jay Robinson

said. “He was an incredibly principled human being who tried to put

the public first.”

The Robinsons, known around town as “Fran and Frank,” accomplished

what was thought to be impossible when they butted heads with the

Irvine Co. In 1969, they sued the company to stop development of a

Marina Del Rey-style marina.

During the Robinsons’ battle with the Irvine Co., President Bill

Mason derided the couple as “that stupid little engineer and his

birdbrained wife,” Jay Robinson said. Mason would eat those words in

1973 when 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.

“Frank and Fran were inspirational to all of us who were working

to save valuable parts in the bay,” said Jack Skinner, a Newport

Beach environmentalist and friend. “I never thought two people would

accomplish such an undertaking.”

Frank Robinson was born June 6, 1918, in Charleston, S.C. After

graduating from the University of Cincinnati, he moved to the L.A.

area. In 1961, Frank and Fran Robinson moved to Newport Beach.

Frank Robinson held down a job at North American Rockwell as an

aeronautical engineer. During the battle with the Irvine Co., company

brass pressured his boss to fire him for his activism. His boss

refused, Caustin said.

During the 1970s, Frank Robinson also held a seat on the Orange

County Harbor Commission, where he was involved in the planning of

Dana Point Harbor.

Frank Robinson is survived by children Jay and daughter Dana

Prince; two grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.

A memorial service for Frank 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 10804, Newport Beach, CA 92658.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

paul.clinton@latimes.com.