Charles Wesley Robinson was an Americanentrepreneur who was involved with many successful business adventures in the mining and shipping industry. He also served as United States Deputy Secretary of State. He was president of CBTF Co. and M Ship Co., a board member of Nike and Chairman of Nike’s Finance Committee.
Biography
Robinson was born in Long Beach, California and spent his early years on a ranch overlooking the Antelope Valley in the Western Mojave Desert. He received his bachelor's degree cum laude in international economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1941. After graduating from a 90-day engineering program at the United States Naval Academy in May 1942, he stayed on as an instructor for another year. He then received an assignment to the heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa and spent nearly two years on the treacherous Murmansk run. The young lieutenant found himself in charge of the main engine division on the ship during the D-Day landing of Normandy, during which the Tuscaloosa engaged in a long battle with a German battery. After further duty in the Pacific at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, in February 1946, Robinson had earned enough points to be discharged from the Navy and left for Palo Alto, California to enter the Stanford University Business School. He graduated with a business degree through an accelerated program in May 1947. He died on May 20, 2014, aged 94, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Timeline
1941-45 US Navy Engineering Officer
1947-49 Golden State Dairy. Managed the company’s manufacturing plants in California. Received several patents for creative, but not necessarily successful ideas, including “Nucaroma”—which packaged the smell of a new car in an aerosol can. Became president of a new startup subsidiary company—Harvestaire Corp.
1952-74 Founder and President of the Marcona Mining Company, which began by operating an iron ore mine out of San Juan, Peru. The Marcona board members from Utah Construction consisted of Mariner Eccles, Ed Littlefield and Alan Christensen . Through Robinson’s innovative vision, the Marcona company expanded into the shipping industry. In an effort to support the transport of iron ore to Japan, Robinson continued to push for larger ships eventually designing and in 1961 constructing the first Panamax, the largest vessel to navigate the Panama Canal. This 105,000 ton ship received much press coverage at the time. Other innovations included the development of a slurry system to transport iron ore from mine into and out of ships in a fluid state and development of the first joint oil/ore carriers.
1950-74 Mining/steel operations and port development in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Australia, India and Chile. This includes establishment of Samarco through which iron ore mined at Minas Gerais was transported via slurry pipeline to a port they developed at Ponta Ubu. Robinson selected Al-Jubail as the location to develop a port to deliver the iron ore and develop Saudi Arabia's first steel mill. Oil was then transported back to Brazil from Saudi Arabia in the same ships.
1979-87 Founded and was president of ETCO based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico..
1988–2014. Set up the DynaYacht Company based in San Diego, California. Worked with Alberto Calderon, Bill Burns, Matt Brown and Peter Isler to create a radical new appendage design that uses a canting ballast for righting moment and two foils - one forward and one aft of the keel - for side force and steering functions of the yacht. The prototype had been used on the boat called the US in the America’s Cup Race. The Canting Ballast Twin Foil technology design won Sailing World’s “Boat of the Year Award" in 2001.
1998-2014. . Another concept, the ‘M-Hull’ was originally designed to reduce bow waves to reduce erosion in the canals of Venice, Italy. This technology has been used on an boat called the M80 Stiletto, under construction by the US Military, as well as a recreational sailing Dinghy called the Wahoo. The Wahoo received the Bronze award in the 2003 Industrial Design Excellence Awards competition.
Boards and other organizations
Trilateral Commission
Brookings Institution
Arthur D. Little
North American Institute
Allen Group
Northrop Corporation
Clark Oil, Inc.
Pan American Airways
Nike, Inc.
Mills College
Pacific Basin Economic Council
Santa Fe Concert Association
Family
Robinson was married since 1957 to Mara Robinson, who was a founder of the Opera-West Company in San Francisco in the 1950s and was active in the '60s in trying to dissolve racial barriers. She has served on many boards including the San Francisco Opera Company, St. John's College and Save Venice Inc. They have three daughters, Heather L. Robinson, Lisa A. Robinson and Wendy P. Robinson.
Quotes
“ If I knew ahead of time, it wouldn’t be any fun”—Reply in response to a San Francisco Business magazine reporter’s question in 1974 as to what Robinson thought he would accomplish in the job of Under-Secretary of State. “Management by self-induced crisis”—Robinson’s description of his business style. "No one who has any self-doubts would ever wear a bow-tie"—Robinson quoted in a New York Times article April 22, 1979 on the returning fashion of bow-ties
