
Former Peabody administrator Raymond E. Robinson died in October. He was 82 years old. From 1963 to 1969, he served as dean of the Conservatory, associate director, twice as acting director, director of summer sessions, acting head of the Music Education Department, and even took a stint being in charge of the Choral Department. His accomplishments included tripling the size of the Summer Sessions, expanding course offerings at the graduate level, and overseeing the construction of the dormitory complex. While in Baltimore, he also wrote his doctoral dissertation on the early history of Peabody, was the music critic for the Baltimore Evening Sun, and served on the board of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Robinson received a bachelor’s degree in music from San Jose State University and then earned a master’s degree in viola and a doctoral degree in music education at Indiana University. In 1969, he was elected president of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., where he served for 18 years. He joined the faculty of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 1989, and served as music director and general manager of the Palm Beach Symphony. Dr. Robinson was an authority on Felix Mendelssohn, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Heinrich Schutz, and the author of 10 books.