Columbus servant leader Pete Robinson, a former Georgia legislator, dies at 66
Whether it was out front as a state legislator or behind the scenes as a lobbyist, Pete Robinson worked to bridge divergent views, find common ground and build community consensus for a greater good.
That’s why he made a major impact on the modern history of the Columbus area. And that’s why those who know him well say the Chattahoochee Valley and the state of Georgia have lost a vital servant leader.
Robinson died early Thursday morning at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, friends told the Ledger-Enquirer. He was 66.
“Even though his professional life was centered in Atlanta and across the state, he never stopped thinking about what was good for the Columbus community and always was trying to look for opportunities to bring new things to our community, to pull together groups of people to see something a little bit differently,” Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley president and CEO Betsy Covington told the L-E.
He had been treated at MD Anderson since June 8 after a tumor was discovered on his liver. He was diagnosed with bile duct cancer June 17 and started receiving palliative care June 29, according to his CaringBridge page. In 2009, Robinson had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.
Considered among the state’s best government relations lawyers, Robinson was a partner at the King & Spalding law firm, based in Atlanta and Washington, but he still kept a home in Columbus.
He joined King & Spalding in January 2019 after working as the managing partner of the Atlanta office for Troutman Sanders, which recruited him from his Columbus law practice to become founding chairman of Troutman Sanders Strategies in 2002, specializing in strategic and governmental business consulting and public affairs.
“Pete was a towering figure, whose impact in boardrooms and the halls of government cannot be overstated,” King & Spalding chairman Robert Hays said in an email to the staff. “. . . Notwithstanding his prominence, Pete was a friend to all. He always took time to stop and chat with everyone: partners, staff and young associates. He loved being a mentor. We were honored to have him as a member of our K&S family.”
Political career
Robinson served one year on the Muscogee County School Board in the 1980s, when it was appointed by the grand jury. In 1984, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, beating incumbent Milton Hirsch in the Democratic primary and former legislator Gary Cason in the general election.
When the city faced a budget crisis in the late 1980s, Robinson was part of the Columbus delegation that persuaded the legislature to pass a law allowing a 1% sales tax option for consolidated governments. Columbus/Muscogee County was the only one in the state at the time.
After six years in the state House, Robinson’s reputation for working across the aisle turned into an opportunity to run for the state Senate. According to the story he told the Ledger-Enquirer in a 2014 interview, Republican state Sen. Ted Land informed him in 1990 that he wouldn’t run for reelection. State Rep. Tom Buck, one of his mentors, advised him “it probably would be a good thing for the community” to have him in the state Senate.
“In my whole story, there are mentors all over my life,” Robinson said in that interview. “They may be transitional mentors or transient mentors, but for their efforts or their confidence in me, I did better than I would have otherwise.”
Zell Miller also was among Robinson’s mentors, first as a professor while he majored in religion and political science at Emory University (Class of 1977). Then, after Miller was elected governor in 1990 and Robinson succeeded Land in the state Senate, Miller asked Robinson to be his floor leader.
It not only was unprecedented for a rookie state Senator to hold such a leadership position, but Robinson ended up in the vanguard of getting historic legislation passed to establish the Georgia Lottery in 1992, which funds the state’s prekindergarten program and expanded in 1993 to fund the HOPE Scholarship for college.
Robinson was so well respected by colleagues for his leadership and bipartisan approach, he became state Senate Majority Leader and the only Senate President Pro-Tem nominated by leaders in both parties.
“Everybody needs a Pete Robinson in their life,” state Rep. Richard Smith, R-Columbus, told the L-E. “When he walked into the room, the conversation level went up. It was business, and everybody knew that he was always prepared. He had a world of knowledge, but he never sought the limelight.”
Robinson’s presence and influence were like gold under the Capitol dome even when he wasn’t in office.
“He probably was the most respected lobbyist there,” Smith said. “You knew he wasn’t blowing smoke. His information was 100% correct. He could talk to the Democrats, the Republicans. He could sit down with the governor, the speaker, the lieutenant governor, and they all admired him because of how he did his job.”
Smith described Robinson’s negotiating style — a marvelous mix of the gift of gab, inquisitiveness and sincere listening.
“When you had a controversial issue, he brought stability to the situation,” Smith said. “… He knew how to bring the best out of people. Even when it was really heated, all of a sudden, when Pete started talking, people started listening. I never saw him lose his cool. He always was very stable. He just brought togetherness. It was amazing.”
Despite developing a resume that some say could have made him a successful statewide candidate, Robinson didn’t run for any office in 1994.
“It was just taking a toll on me financially,” Robinson explained in that 2014 interview. “I didn’t have the same needs when I was in the Senate that I had with two children and a wife. I had different needs and different responsibilities that I didn’t have when I started elected politics. Elected politics takes a big toll on families, and probably takes more of a toll now than it used to.”
Public-private partnerships
Although he wasn’t a candidate anymore, Robinson remained in politics in different ways. He was considered a master of making public-private partnerships that helped produce some of the city’s signature facilities, including the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts (2002) and the Columbus Public Library (2005) and the new Columbus campus for Mercer University School of Medicine, scheduled to open in January.
“He made a huge impact on the growth and development in Columbus and the relationships with the state Capitol,” city manager Isaiah Hugley told the L-E.
A prime example, Hugley said, came when Republican Sonny Perdue defeated incumbent Democrat Roy Barnes in the 2002 gubernatorial election.
The turnover in power put at risk the governor’s office commitment of $25 million for the expansion of the Columbus Convention & Trade Center. After the city received an initial payment while Barnes still was governor, local leaders were worried the bulk of the promise wouldn’t be kept because the majority of Muscogee County voters didn’t support Perdue.
“Pete Robinson and others were involved in making sure that funding continued on track,” Hugley said. “… We now have that additional 100,000 square feet at the trade center because of relationships like Pete Robinson and his ability to work with the new Republicans who had taken control of the state.”
The library was a special place for Robinson. While attending Hardaway High School (Class of 1973), he worked part time at the previous headquarters of the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, the W.C. Bradley Memorial Library. Guy Sims, then the superintendent of the Muscogee County School District, which owns and operates the Columbus public libraries, appointed Robinson to lead the committee that planned the new main library.
Robinson, who earned his law degree from Mercer (Class of 1980), was a key part of the effort to secure enough public and private funding to make the med school campus project possible in Columbus.
Ken Henson, a Columbus attorney and developer, summed up what Robinson meant to the city’s progress when he told the L-E, “Pete was instrumental in putting together public-private partnerships that transformed Columbus from a town dominated by mills to the home of (two) Fortune 500 companies with a dynamic downtown on the Chattahoochee River.”
A lifelong resident of Georgia, Robinson was born in 1954 in Columbus to Jeanne Peterson Robinson and Ezekiel Miller Robinson. He was predeceased by his father. He is survived by his children, Carolyn (Atlanta), Miller (Washington) and Grant Robinson (Atlanta) and by their mother, Emily Sharp Robinson (Charlotte, N.C.). He also is survived by his mother, Jeanne Peterson Robinson (Columbus), his sister, Jenna Robinson (Greenville, S.C.), and his brother, Andy Robinson (Columbus).
The funeral service will be July 8 at 2 p.m. at the Peterson Family Cemetery in Ailey, Ga., with the Rev. Jimmy Elder, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbus, officiating. The memorial service will be July 9 at 2 p.m. at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Columbus, with the Rev. Thad Haygood, senior pastor of St. Luke, and Rev. Elder officiating. Visitation will follow the service in the St. Luke Ministry Center.
In lieu of flowers, the family would welcome donations to the Mike Sabbath Student Support Fund at Mercer Law School via the Office of University Advancement, 1501 Mercer University Drive, Macon, GA 31207. Robinson established the fund to provide resources for law students who have a change of circumstances that causes financial distress and potentially affects their ability to remain enrolled. He named the fund in honor of a favorite law professor, who helped him when his father died while he was in law school.
The family also would welcome donations to the Muscogee County Library Foundation Endowment Fund, c/o Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley, at P.O. Box 1630, Fortson, GA 31808-1630 or via cfcv.com.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 8:36 AM.
