James A. Robinson Jr. (Jim), age 74, of Mobjack in Mathews County, succumbed to his battle with Parkinson’s disease on October 10, 2024 in the care of the hospice team at Riverside Walter Reed Hospital.
Jim will forever be remembered as an extraordinarily brilliant and kind person. At a young age, it was determined that Jim was exceptionally intelligent and yet his mild, unassuming manner often betrayed this aspect of him. It was his intellectual capacity that enabled Jim to attend the University of California, Berkeley, as a Regents’ Fellow for his MBA degree. For many years after graduate school, Jim served as an account executive or marketing director for a host of advertising agencies and corporations in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Greenville, South Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia. From there, Jim created East River Marketing, a business consulting firm working with a selected group of marketing and technology professionals to provide strategic, results-oriented marketing.
In 2000, Jim and his wife Margaret moved to Mathews County. Jim wasted no time in getting involved with the community, using his problem-solving skills and generosity to try and make life better for the people of Mathews and Gloucester. This includes his work with Habitat for Humanity, the Mathews Rotary Club, and the Mathews County Planning Commission. Jim dedicated over a decade to serving on the Mathews County Planning Commission, contributing to numerous committees on the Commission, holding the position of vice chair, and being elected chair on multiple occasions. Jim was particularly proud of contributing to the decision to rejuvenate Haven Beach with sand dredged from Milford Haven.
In Gloucester, Jim left an indelible mark through his unwavering dedication to nurturing local businesses and revitalizing the community. A driving force behind the creation of the Gloucester Revolving Loan Fund, now known as the Gloucester Community Loan Fund, Jim’s visionary leadership laid the foundation for a program that continues to offer a lifeline to small businesses through low- or no-interest loans, including numerous interest-free Covid loans, enabling businesses to start, grow, and thrive.
Jim’s collaborative efforts with the Main Street Preservation Trust breathed new life into Gloucester’s Main Street, transforming it into a vibrant hub for commerce and culture. His commitment extended beyond financial support to hands-on involvement in the community’s revitalization. He was instrumental in acquiring key properties, including the T.C. Walker Mural building and the former SunTrust building. He spent countless hours overseeing extensive renovations of the former SunTrust building, including the removal of asbestos and lead paint, and roof repairs to ensure a safe and successful sale.
Jim’s warm spirit, dedication to economic growth, and passion for Gloucester’s future will continue to inspire and uplift the community he loved so deeply. His legacy stands as a testament to the power of vision and leadership in shaping a thriving and resilient community.
This spirit carried over in Jim’s consulting work with the Fairfield Foundation—whose mission is to promote archaeology, education, and preservation on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula and beyond—by helping the Foundation to develop reachable objectives. With Jim’s assistance, the Foundation was able to obtain a leasing agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia for the renovation and preservation of the historic Timberneck House within Machicomoco State Park.
When Jim wasn’t working to help the community, he was studying American history while collaborating on a suspenseful screenplay about the Founding Fathers (Blow Out the Light https://blowoutthelight.com/), and planning how to achieve his lifelong dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Jim was a mentor, a counselor, a confidant, a true friend to many, but most of all, the most kind and generous person you would hope to meet.
Jim was born and raised in Clearwater, Florida. He was preceded in death by his parents, James Sr. and Mary, and his sister, Brenda Robinson. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Margaret; his sister, Linda Wheeler; his sisters-in-law, Katherine Littlewood and Susan Graber; his brother-in-law, Scott Graber; his nephews, Alexander Littlewood and Zachary Graber; his niece, Lindsey Gill Scoggins; his great-nephews, Jacob James Littlewood, Wolf Graber, and Austin Townsend, and his great-nieces, Poppy Littlewood and Alexis Townsend. And, along with everyone else, his dog Scooter misses him terribly.
Donations may be made in Jim’s memory to the Mathews Land Conservancy, 1039 Williams Wharf Road, P.O. Box 306, Mathews, Va. 23109 or visit https://www.mathewslandconservancy.org/capital-campaign, and the Fairfield Foundation, P.O. Box 157, White Marsh, Va. 23183 or visit https://fairfieldfoundation.org/become-a-member/.
Foster-Faulkner Chapel in Mathews is assisting the family.