Scholar, educator, wife and mother Joan Seeman Robinson, Ph.D passed away August 4th, 2021 after 94 years of life with us on this earth. Dr. Robinson, who earned her doctorate in art history from Stanford University in 1980, served as a professor at the University of Houston and was a guest lecturer at Rice University before moving to Cincinnati and joining the UC Art Department. Dr. Robinson was a social activist throughout her life with her efforts surfacing in two memorable achievements: in the midst of the racial turmoil of the 1960’s she braved confrontation at her segregated swim club to bring her son’s black friend as a guest – years later resulting in a civil rights case in Federal court – and she authored an as yet-unpublished book on the Vietnam War and it’s effect on artists, documenting how for the first time when the violence of war was visible on TV in our homes in the evening, numerous visual artists were deeply moved to express their opposition to the war.

Dr. Robinson, who was born June 12, 1927 to Stephen French and Marion Miles French and was sister to the late Donn French, is survived by her loving husband William Robinson, her son Jeffrey Seeman, her daughter in-law Dr. Cynthia Seeman, and grandchildren Rachael Cole and David Seeman. Dr. Robinson will be buried at the Larkspur Conservation Cemetery in Westmoreland, TN, a nature conservancy. Anyone interested in contributions towards causes in her interest should contact [email protected] as in her late years it was of great interest to her to promote a more natural burial process.

A memorial service for Dr. Robinson will be held at 10am Saturday, August 14th at Unity Of Nashville,
5125 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37220.