Jack Robinson
Interviewed by Stanley Meretsky
May 23, 2005
Max M. Fisher Federation Building, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Jack Robinson
Video 01:05:25
Jack Robinson
Audio 01:05:25
Abstract
In this interview, Jack Robinson talks about his childhood and growing up and moving around the Detroit area. He talks about his religious upbringing and sharing his home with his extended family and also a boarder. Robinson speaks about working at pharmacies as he was younger and being a soda jerk. He discusses his college years and being drafted into the Army during the Korean War. Next, Robinson mentions his high school hobby of photography. He then speaks about learning of the Jewish Federation.
Then, Robinson talks a little more about his father’s immigration to the US, memories of his grandfather, and his experiences being a vendor at Tiger Stadium.
Robinson speaks about his decision and road to becoming a pharmacist and the inception of Perry Drugs, as well as Auto Works. He then talks about how he and his wife met and eventually got married. He speaks a little about his experiences as the head of the Professional Division for Federation and more about the drugstore industry in general.
Here, Robinson talks about his many trips to Israel, starting in 1966. He talks about some of the Jewish organizations he is a part of like, Jewish Federation Apartments, Jewish Family Services, as well as non-Jewish organizations like the Detroit Institute of Art and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and National Conference of Community & Justice. The interview ends with Robinson speaking about the Jack & Aviva Robinson Family Support Foundation and teaching the concept of tzedekah.
History of Narrator
Jack A. Robinson was born in 1930 and grew up in Detroit. After graduating from Central High School, Robinson attended Detroit Institute of Technology and received a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Wayne State University. He opened the first Perry Drugstore in 1957. After 38 years in business, he sold the chain to Rite Aid Corporation.
After leaving the drug store business, Robinson started The JAR Group, a residential and retain real estate development and management company, serving as chairman and CEO. With his wife Aviva, he raised three daughters.
Raised with the concept of tzedakah, Robinson supported many community organizations, both Jewish and secular. Among those were the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, Jewish Federations Apartments, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, the Holocaust Memorial Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Food Bank of Oakland County, and Detroit Initiative Task Force. He was a past president of the Greater Detroit Interfaith Roundtable, the United Jewish foundation of Metropolitan Detroit, and a past vice-president of United Way Community Services of Greater Detroit.
His generosity led to numerous awards, including the Fred M. Butzel Memorial Award from the Federation, the Eight over Eighty Award from Jewish Senior Life, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Harvard Business School Club of Detroit, and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award from the State of Israel.
Jack Robinson died on September 15, 2015 at the age of 85.
Transcript
Important Subjects
Important Names
Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives. Jack Robinson Oral History Interview, May 23, 2005.