THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE
"If you want to do something important, the very first thing you must do is get started."
Business executive, community developer, and golf enthusiast, Ray M. Robinson was born on November 30, 1947, in McKinney, Texas. Robinson grew up in Dallas, and while still in high school worked as a communication technician, beginning a thirty-five-year career with AT&T.
In 1970, Robinson earned his B.A. degree in finance from the University of Denver, and the following year he received his M.B.A., degree also from that same institution. Simultaneously, Robinson began his climb up the corporate ladder at AT&T, relocating thirteen times as he took new assignments in marketing, sales, and regulatory affairs. Robinson finally settled in Atlanta, where he became president of the company's southern region.
Upon his retirement from AT&T in 2003, Robinson, an avid golfer, assumed the presidency of Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club and became vice chairman of the East Lake Community Foundation. Robinson helped revive Atlanta's historic golf course and revitalize the inner-city neighborhood surrounding it through redevelopment. This redevelopment included East Lake Family YMCA and Eastlake Junior Golf Academy. Under Robinson's leadership, the golf club signed a multiyear partnership with the Professional Golf Association, making the East Lake Course the primary host venue for the PGA Championship Tour.
Robinson served on the board of directors for several businesses and organizations, including Citizens Trust Bank, the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce, and the Atlanta Tribune Editorial Advisory Board. Additionally, Robinson belonged to several civic groups, including the 100 Black Men of Atlanta and the NAACP. Robinson and his wife, Arlane, were married in 1969; the raised two children.