E. Claiborne Robins Sr

E. Claiborne Robins, Sr. (1910 – 1995) was an American chief executive of A.H. Robins pharmaceutical company and a philanthropist.

Robin's grandfather, Albert Hartley Robins, started a drug store in Richmond, Virginia in 1866. After attending the University of Richmond as an undergraduate and earning a pharmacy degree at the Medical College of Virginia in 1933, Robins built the company up to a Richmond-based multinational giant that manufactured, among other products, Robitussin cough syrup and ChapStick lip balm.

At the height of their business, combined law suits centering on injuries sustained from their product the Dalkon Shield drove them to protracted bankruptcy proceedings in 1987, leading him to sell to settle the claims in 1989. Assets were eventually acquired by Wyeth.

Robins served as trustee at the University of Richmond starting in 1951. By 1969, the university was a small, liberal arts school strongly affiliated with the Southern Baptist church and was poised at bankruptcy. Robins offered what was the largest gift to any university, $50 million in A.H. Robins common stock and $10 million in cash contingent on matching gifts. The University's executives, headed by then President E. Bruce Heilman and Vice President H. Gerald Quigg, directed the successful effort, ultimately leading to a $60 million addition to the university’s endowment.

The gift, along with later gifts, were acknowledged in the naming of the Robins Center arena and the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business.

He also gave extensively to local nonprofits including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Richmond Public Library (United States), the Medical College of Virginia, and Virginia Union University.

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