Peter Burling Robinson died Wednesday, April, 10, of complications of a brain tumor after a long illness. He was the great-granson of Frank A. Burling, the founder of the East Hampton Star and the Southampton Press. The family newspaper business was run by the women of his family, as his great-grandfather died and his only child, Peter’s grandmother, Hazel Burling Brown Wilde, succeeded him. His mother then ran the paper, joined by his father during their marriage, and Peter and his sister, Leslie, were raised in the news and printing spaces of the Southampton Press when the building was on Job’s Lane, a short walk from the family home. After the sale of the family business to Donald Louchheim in the 1970s, he continued to offer edits (and opinions!) to the present editorial staff. Much as he tried to move on from that industry, it was in his blood, and his interest never left.
Peter was born to Shirley Burling Brown and William Read Robinson on October 24, 1947, in Elgin, IL, where his father was pursuing professional opportunities on his return from WWII. The family moved back to Southampton, Shirley’s hometown, when Peter was a toddler and his sister, was born there, four years later. Apart from his schooling, his life centered largely around Southampton Village.
He led a remarkable and interesting life. A Renaissance Man, he became expert at whatever caught his attention to study and his talents were myriad. He had a brilliant, facile mind and an extraordinary attention to detail that served him well in his professional and creative pursuits.
Peter attended Southampton Public Schools until the 10th grade attending Phillips Academy, from which he graduated in 1965. Summers, when not helping out at the Press, he worked at carpentry for local builder, Alfred Padula, whose son, noted artist and architect, Warren, was his lifelong friend. He went on to Dartmouth College, left and ultimately graduated from the University of San Diego, CA, in 1972. After earning his undergraduate degree, he went back to carpentry for a few years until he was admitted to Santa Clara University School of Law, graduating 6th in a class of 300 in 1977. Fresh out of law school, he served on the legal team that brought the first class action gender discrimination suit against Hughes aircraft, representing the National Organization of Women (NOW).
He left the law and came home to Southampton to work at carpentry, at which he had a natural ability. His devotion to the medium and manual dexterity endowed his woodworking with artistry, whether a hand carved object, cabinet, or wall. He worked as project manager for decades at Peter Creegan, Ltd., and from time to time at Koral Brothers, Inc., both business owners also dear friends. He learned the art form of Japanese joinery, with his friend, Tom
Matthews, on a project here, under the guidance of Jokan Ohana, who came from a centuries-old family of temple builders in Kyoto. The practice appealed to him as it aligned with his sense of discipline, exactitude and reverence. He attended the Bath Boat Building School in Maine, where he learned the craft returning with a dinghy he moored at Sag Harbor most summers.
One of only three local boys to begin surfing back in the 1960s, he appeared on a panel discussing the early days of the sport in Southampton at the Rogers Memorial Library, recalling winter surf sessions when ice formed on their mustaches, waiting for waves at Road G or Flies before those spots even had those names, alone in the surf. He was a gifted musician, a family trait, and as a teen, played organ at the Southampton Presbyterian Church, drums in a local garage band and loved to dance. Friends likened his piano playing to the style of Keith Jarrett.
Peter was a seeker: studied meditation in India for 3 months, sailed to Hawaii from San Francisco, CA with 2 other friends in a hand built 36-foot sloop, sailed regularly at Sag Harbor in the weekly Wednesday night races there for many years, loved country music and often traveled to
Nashville to listen to it. A talented artist, he drew, painted and photographed. He was a creature of habit and routine, often forging earnest and engaged relationships with shop owners and employees alike. He loved the ocean, sailing, his Ford Transit van and AirStream trailer and spent many happy weeks traveling around the country including trips to the west coast, Vancouver and Nova Scotia. More recently, he would venture out to Hither Hills State Park to enjoy the ocean and the quiet of Montauk in the off-season before his illness curtailed those activities.
His parents, Shirley Burling Brown and William Read Robinson, and younger sister, Leslie Read Robinson Sharp predeceased him. He leaves two nieces, Emily Dawson Sharp and Clair Burling Sharp Hallyburton and her husband Garth, a great-nephew, Grey Read Hallyburton, and great-niece, Gemma Catherine Hallyburton all of North Salt Lake, Utah; brother-in-law, William Howard Sharp of Portland, OR; faithful friend Kathleen Cunningham, of East Hampton and her family: Ben Faraone and Chandra Elmendorf of Northport, ME; Rachael Faraone of East Hampton, Sara and Peter Topping of North Sea; and six adored and adoring grandkids: Henry, Max, Ella, Tanner, Wyatt and Gardiner, who miss their ‘Robby’ and his hijinks.
A celebration of his life is being planned for June. Donations in his memory may be sent to The Peconic Land Trust or the Rogers Memorial Library.
