Remembering Dick Robbins 1933–2019
“In 1968 when I first had the chance to work for what was then known as James S. Robbins Co., I did not fully appreciate that I was getting a chance to work with the greatest innovator in the tunneling industry,” said Robbins President Lok Home. “Dick was a great mentor as a boss and as a person. He was always pushing the limits of what could be done with TBMs. Dick’s integrity, energy and passion improved the worldwide tunneling industry, and his creations set many of the industry standards.”
“Dick unselfishly gave back to his industry and to his community,” said consultant and former ITA President Harvey Parker, a long-time friend of the Robbins family. “He was very active in our industry’s professional associations. I was honored to work closely with Dick during his significant involvement in the ITA where he served on the Executive Council for years, was elected First Vice President and was a leader for the ITA Working Group on Mechanized Tunnelling.” Dick Robbins’s many awards included numerous honorary degrees, memberships and directorships in a wide variety of organizations ranging from Virginia Mason Medical Center to the Board of Trustees at his alma mater Michigan Technological University. In 1999, the Engineering News-Record selected him as one of the “125 Top People of the Past 125 Years,” an equipment innovator who “helped shape this nation and the world.”