Ronald Lee Robinson of Sioux Falls, SD, passed away with family by his side on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at Sanford USD Medical Center after an injury and short illness.

Lee Robinson and Irma Latson welcomed him as their first child on February 6, 1936. Though a child of the Great Depression, Ronnie, as family and friends often called him, arrived as an optimist and filled the world with abundance - an abundance of stories, poetry, music, magic, art, and service.

Ron grew up in Graettinger, IA, a small town that he remembered with loving nostalgia as an ideal place for boyhood adventures. He graduated from Graettinger High School in 1953, earned an associate's degree from Estherville Junior College, his bachelor's degree at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, and eventually his Master's from the University of Minnesota.

As a young adult, he worked as a radio announcer, a local writer for the Associated Press, and an English teacher at Augustana. While teaching at Augie, he continued his adventures by becoming one of the managers of the startup Golden Gaslight Theater in Arnold's Park, IA, next to Lake Okoboji. There he met a young actress, a farm girl from South Dakota named Margaret Rose Fjellestad. They married on December 27, 1964, and two years later to the day, they welcomed a daughter, Tania Noel. Margaret and Ron were married for 54 years.

Ron took on fatherhood with the same curious, enthusiastic spirit that he took on everything, teaching his only child to fish, play chess, love reading, and expect any man in her life to be just as trustworthy and intelligent as he was.

He was a professor in the English department at Augustana College for over 30 years, founding the journalism program and making life-long friends. After retirement, he made time to support the Center for Western Studies, the Minnehaha Historical Society, and other local and regional projects while owning and running Ex Machina Publishing company with Margaret.

He was a true Renaissance man who took pleasure in wearing his many "hats"—artist, actor, director, philosopher, radio announcer, journalist, author, professor, musician, magician, fly fisherman, and more. His favorite and most influential roles, though, were those of husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend.

As Ron spent his 88 years filling the world with abundance, he has not now left it empty. He continues sharing his genius and zest for life with the unnumbered individuals who read or see his works or hear his music. His influence also lives on in his close friends and surviving family: his sister Pamela Robinson Berry, daughter Tania Noel Robinson, son-in-law Phillip Herrin Lunceford, three grandsons—Noel Robinson Lunceford, Josiah Taylor Lunceford, and Samuel Elias Lunceford—and two great-grandchildren, De'Sharanai Nicole Lunceford and Jaxton Taylor Colledge.

On Saturday, October 12, 2024, his family will host services at Miller Funeral Home in downtown Sioux Falls to celebrate Ron's life: a viewing at 1 p.m. and a funeral at 2 p.m., followed by a light lunch for family and friends. His earthly remains will be buried next to Margaret's in the cemetery of the church they were married in, Belleview Lutheran Church in Howard, SD.

The funeral service for Ronald Robinson will be livestreamed on Miller Funeral Home's YouTube page. To watch the service live, please click on the following link: https://youtube.com/live/xCsq0a44cH0?feature=share