Robinson was born on December 1, 1906, in Spangle, Washington. Robinson earned an undergraduate degree in animal husbandry from Montana State College in 1929 and a master's degree from South Dakota State College in 1933. He worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1937, when he returned to Oregon to take over his parents' farm after his father's death. He operated this farm until 1943 when he bought a ranch near Imbler. He retired to LaGrande in 1978 and moved to Corvallis in 1995. Robinson served on various county and state-wide agricultural organizations. In 1988, Oregon State University presented him with a Diamond Pioneer Agricultural Career Achievement Award. Robinson died in Corvallis, Oregon, on February 23, 2000.
