In the spring of 2021, dendrochronology and archaeology in the United States lost a giant. On April 26, 2021, William J. Robinson passed away quietly in his sleep. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1929, he served in the US Army from 1951 to 1953. Bill's love of the desert and for archaeology brought him to the University of Arizona where he received a PhD in Anthropology in 1967. During his more than 30 years as a professor and ultimately as Acting Director and Director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Bill helped advance the use of dendrochronology to study archaeological sites throughout the Southwest and the United States. Bill was preceded in death by Priscilla in 2013, after 56 years of marriage, and is survived by Peter Robinson (Deb Gardener), Betsey Robinson and his four beloved grandchildren, Ben, Graham, Rachel, and Ethan.
A quiet, soft-spoken scholar who will...