Longtime LV civic leader Robinson dies

Monday, Sept. 29, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.

Marjorie Robinson, longtime resident of Las Vegas, supporter of charities and the wife of Scott Robinson, a majority investor in the old Desert Inn, has died.

Robinson's daughter, Marilyn, said her mother told her "never to tell anyone her age," but said she was born in Madrid, Iowa, in 1911.

Marjorie Robinson died Sept. 8 of complications related to her age, including a cold and several recent strokes, her daughter said. The family disclosed her death on Friday.

Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Palm Mortuary.

Robinson and her husband moved to Las Vegas in 1949. Scott was a former banker and was approached by Wilbur Clark to invest in a hotel that Clark wanted to build. The venture became the Desert Inn on the Strip.

Scott Robinson died in 1972. Marjorie continued working part time in a real estate investment business the couple had developed, but spent more of her time supporting charities and civic organizations, her daughter said.

"She was well-loved by the community ... very giving and almost sacrificial," Marilyn said.

Groups Marjorie Robinson was active in included the Mesquite Club, the Assistance League and Eastern Star.

Allan Pallante, a friend during the last decade of Robinson's life, called her the "most gracious, sincere and vibrant lady I've met in many years."

Pallante said that his friend "outdanced the band on New Year's Eve" as recently as 1996.

Several of her friends also remembered the gatherings Robinson would host at her Las Vegas home, often to raise funds for the organizations she supported.

Shirley Swanson, who has a relationship with the Robinsons stretching back at least five decades, was at many of those gatherings on behalf of the Assistance League, whose causes included getting school books to needy children.

Ely Ades, a retired engineer and a fellow member of the University United Methodist Church congregation, noted how Robinson would support such causes as a mission in Mexico.

Robinson's daughter said her mother "didn't want to be in the limelight.

"She always had other people's interests ahead of her own."

She is survived by her daughters, Marilyn Robinson and Kay Schofield, a granddaughter and four great grandchildren.