Roll Call Tribute

Mark John Robinson 

December 27, 1954 - January 24, 2025 

Mark Robinson was an auditor and accountant by profession, a brother with four siblings, but more than anything, an aviation enthusiast’s enthusiast. More about that later. Mark was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada along with a twin, Michael, on December 27, 1954. He died in Pensacola Florida on January 24, 2025. Mark was born and died on opposite ends of North America and enjoyed many extraordinary stops along the way.

Mark was born to a Royal Canadian Airforce pilot and a Trans Canada Airline Stewardess. This had to be where his fascination, scratch that, his obsession with aircraft, air history and piloting began. If it left the ground, he knew all about it or would find out soon enough. As a toddler on a frozen Canadian Air Force base in Goose Bay Labrador, he caught sight of the flights on the landing path and ended up a very long way from home walking in his snow suit on the taxiway to get a better look. The control tower assisted in his location and our mother was never quite the same after that.

The family moved from Canada to Los Angeles in 1967, and Mark progressed through junior and senior high school, graduating from Newbury Park Senior High in 1973. That’s his Senior High Graduation picture above. In this era, Mark began an impassioned journey into classical music, becoming a pianist with 13 years of lessons under his belt. This coincided with a keen interest in all classical music, including esoteric High-Fidelity equipment that delivered the best sonic quality you can experience at home. Vinyl records never were out of fashion for Mark and he has a terrific collection, now being stewarded by a lucky brother.

He decided to forego college and enlisted in the US Armed Forces in, wait for it, the USAF in ground support. The Air Force career took Mark to many different bases in his career being honorably discharged in 1978 from McChord AFB in Washington State. During his time in the Air Force, he developed another passion for which he would become a master, European autos and exotics. Show and Shine auto meets were always on the Calendar in any city in which he lived.

Mark had an excellent mind and terrific memory. Looking to play that strong card, he enrolled in Texas A&M university, where he obtained a degree in accounting which served him well through many different career arcs. Although he was flying a desk, as one might say, he stayed close to his aviation passion by volunteering at the Dallas Aviation Museum and continuing to build a comprehensive library on aviation and auto history. Needing a moment of calm one could find him paging through any one of his books.

Mark ended his professional career in Dallas in 2023, after 19 years of dedicated service as an auditor in the Department of Homeland Security – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On retirement and after spending 43 years of his life in Dallas, he moved to Pensacola to be closer to family. I’m sure in the back of his mind it didn’t hurt being close to the acclaimed Pensacola Naval and Air Museum where he would have been a valuable member of their volunteer guides.

A man of lifelong curiosity, an aviation and auto enthusiast, an admirer of classical music and a voracious reader. Mark is much like his father, who he idolized and, like him, is remembered daily by our family.

His funeral is set for May 5, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. in the Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.