Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)– Today, the family and friends announced the passing of Marilyn Robinson after a brief illness.
A Memphis native, Marilyn called Nashville home for nearly 40 years. She relocated to Nashville in 1984 to work for the Nashville Minority Business Development Center , where she served as executive director.
She was a tireless fighter for business equity and equality in every aspect of local, state and federal government agencies and contracting. Marilyn supported countless business owners in their journeys to scale their companies, create jobs, and generate wealth. She operated the One Fund, which provided small and minority business owners with access to capital.
For 35 years, she coordinated the Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference, known as MEDWeek, as part of the national celebration to recognize minority business contributions to the national economy. Once featuring prominent speakers such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou and more, Nashville’s MEDWeek celebration features business development training, advocacy for public contracting equity, and is punctuated by the Minority Business Achievement Awards Gala.
Her passion for economic inclusivity and justice was evident – not just in her career but in how she lives her life. In addition to her role at the Minority Business Center, Marilyn was active in the Nashville community and has been a champion of and advocate for many of the economic prosperity measures undertaken by the city.
She was especially proud of her persistent encouragement for Nashville to complete two disparity studies to document the inequities in government contracting in 1998 and in 2018. From there, Marilyn was instrumental in the Metro Council unanimously passing the historic Equal Business Opportunity legislation to remove the barriers for minority businesses to compete in government contracting.
Marilyn served in leadership as a president, board of director or committee member for many organizations, including Nashville Electric Service, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County Convention Center Commission, Leadership Nashville Class of 1999, AAA Residential Resources, Inc., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Nashville Chapter, and 100 Black Women Metropolitan Nashville Chapter, Inc. An avid and enthusiastic political connoisseur, she even served as a delegate for Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential Election.
She was also a member of Nashville Foundation for Women of Color, Incorporated, and Music City (TN) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. Marilyn will be missed by all, especially the great citizens of Nashville. She is preceded in death by both her parents. She leaves her cherished memories to her beloved dogs, Akitas, Buffy and Jody and a host of family and friends.
