Thomas W. Robinson (1935–2006)

Abstract

Tom was raised in a close-knit, church-going, middle-class family in Wisconsin. His strong Midwestern roots were evident throughout his life. Early on he acquired his love of nature and the world of ideas two lifelong attributes. A man of many talents, he was both musical and athletic playing the piano and starring on his high school basketball team. He had an affinity for foreign languages mastering German, Russian, Chinese, and acquiring some Korean. He was incredibly wide-read, and this was reflected in his scholarship. His erudition began with literature in his youth, science and philosophy in college, international affairs and social science in graduate school, history and biography in adulthood. A childhood bout with mumps left Tom deaf in one ear, self-conscious about his disability, and chary of close personal contacts (a trait easily mistaken for aloofness). In reality, he was sociable, extremely warm and solicitous of his friends and family. He cherished intellectual and social engagement with his academic and professional colleagues. At Carleton College, his alma mater which he so loved, Tom excelled academically, athletically, and socially. Not an ivory tower intellectual, Tom supported himself at college and graduate school by driving trucks in New York, working in a South Chicago steel mill, and returning to Green Bay for a variety of odd jobs during summers. Tom's interest in international affairs began to develop in his third and fourth undergraduate years at Carleton. The key intellectual turning point occurred during his junior year, when he spotted a flyer in the student union for an organization called SPAN (Student Project for Amity Among Nations), which he recalled had been established by a group of idealistic veterans of World War II. With a US$1,000 stipend from SPAN, plus travel expenses, Tom spent the summer between his junior and senior years in Europe, doing a project on the formation of EURATOM, a project which drew on his background in physics, but linked it to the study of international relations. As part of the project, he had the opportunity to interview both Jean Monnet ? The China Quarterly, 2006 doi: 10.1017/S0305741006000683