William Wheeler Robinson ’39

Bill died in his sleep at Navesink Harbor, Red Bank, N.J., April 3, 2007.

Editor of Yachting magazine and author of 27 sailing books and one novel, Bill was a lifelong sailor. He wrote his autobiography, A Sailor’s Tales, “to save my grandchildren from having to listen to me in my old age.”

After graduating from Pingry, he played freshman football and lacrosse at Princeton, where he was an English major. In World War II he commanded a 110-foot Navy sub-chaser during three South Pacific invasions and earned the Bronze Star for valor.

As a sportswriter in Newark after the war, Bill wrote on boating as well as Princeton football. (He covered home games into his ’80s.) Bill joined Yachting in 1957 and was editor-in-chief from1967 to 1978. He also played squash (once reaching the National Senior Doubles finals), coached youth sports, promoted junior sailing, and served on his local school board. He belonged to the New York and Royal Bermuda yacht clubs and the Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club. He also served as president of the Princeton Club of New York.

Bill’s wife, Jane, and daughter Alice predeceased him. William Jr. ’65, daughter Martha, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren survive. We offer Bill’s family our sincere sympathy.