| March 8, 2023, New York, N.Y. – Rachel Robinson, the pioneering leader and founder of the Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF), will be honored at JRF’s 44th ROBIE Awards Dinner on March 13, 2023, at the New York Marriott Marquis. Mrs. Robinson’s lifetime achievements and activism will be feted by celebrity guests and creative performances. Academy award winning director and screenwriter Spike Lee and filmmaker, author and activist Tonya Lewis Lee are Co-Chairs of the Dinner Gala Committee along with honorary co-chairs former PresidentWilliam J. Clinton and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former PresidentGeorge W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush. Members of the Gala Committee include: Commissioner of Major League Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr., Los Angeles Dodgers Owner and Chairman Mark Walter; Educator, Broadcaster, Philanthropist, and Wife of Hall of Famer Henry “Hank” Aaron Billye Aaron; Salamander Hotels & Resorts owner Sheila C. Johnson; JRF Alumna Jade Dean; and JRF Board Members Leonard S. Coleman, Jr., Martin L. Edelman, Esq., Gregg A. Gonsalves, Christopher H. Koch, Peter O’Malley, and Christopher Dean. The evening will feature Jackie Robinson Foundation alumni, Karissa Royster, Broadway performer and LA-based dancer, Alyse Stone, visual artist, and Andia Winslow, award-winning voice over artist and actress. Musical talent by the legendary Ray Chew Live. Entertainment production by Vivian Scott Chew for Chew Entertainment, and Music Director Ray Chew. Rachel Robinson has lived an accomplished life of compassion and perseverance. By the time she married Jackie Robinson in 1946, she had graduated from UCLA with a degree in nursing and spent time helping build WWII bombardiers at Lockheed Martin for the war effort. She went on to advance her career in nursing, earning a master’s degree from NYU in psychiatric nursing and serving as the Director of Nursing at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, a collaboration between Yale University and the State of Connecticut. From hosting celebrity jazz concerts to support jailed civil rights activists and other civil rights causes, to developing low-income housing alongside her husband, Rachel Robinson was an activist in the full sense of the word. Upon Jackie Robinson’s untimely death in 1972, she founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which was incorporated in 1973, and served as its president until 1978 and then chairwoman until 1996. She continues to be an inspiration for JRF’s mission of advancing education and preserving the Robinson legacy of equal opportunity and humanitarianism. The 44th ROBIE Awards Dinner, at which Mrs. Robinson will be honored, kicks off the JRF’s 50th anniversary year celebration and will raise funds for the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s college scholarship program, JRF IMPACT, a digital college success guide, and the Jackie Robinson Museum, which opened in New York City in July 2022. |
Rachel Robinson to be Honored at 44th Annual Robie Awards Dinner
