Richard Robinson, who turned Scholastic into a children’s book giant, dies at 84
By Hillel Italie,
Richard Robinson, who as the longtime head of Scholastic shaped the reading habits of millions of young readers through such bestsellers as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels and through a wide range of educational materials, reading clubs and book fairs, died June 5 at age 84.
The children’s publishing giant announced the death but did not provide a cause.
Under Mr. Robinson’s leadership, Scholastic became the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and has long said it distributes 1 out of every 3 children’s book in the United States. The company’s estimated net worth is around $1.2 billion, down from over $1.6 billion in 2016 but well above a low of under $800 million last year.
Besides the Harry Potter books, Scholastic also publishes such popular series as the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey and Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell. Scholastic is otherwise a classroom fixture through its clubs, newsletters and other programs, including a partnership with novelist James Patterson. Participants in Scholastic’s annual Art and Writing Awards for students have included Robert Redford, Stephen King and Lena Dunham.
A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Harvard College, Maurice Richard Robinson Jr. was the son of Maurice R. Robinson, who founded Scholastic as a classroom magazine in 1920. The younger Robinson worked as a high school English teacher and a bricklayer, among other jobs, before joining Scholastic as an associate magazine editor in 1962.
“I was going to be a teacher and a writer — joining Scholastic was never a consideration, and my father knew that,” he told the website Chief Executive in 1997.
He rose to president in 1974, CEO in 1975 and board chairman in 1982, the year of his father’s death, and vastly transformed the company. Mr. Robinson’s time at Scholastic was marked by global expansion into the book and education markets, and into television programming through “Clifford,” “The Magic School Bus” and other series.
Mr. Robinson also endured financial ups and downs, even with the historic success of Harry Potter, and occasional battles with censors who objected to books like “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” “The Adventures of Captain Underpants” and Alex Gino’s “George” as inappropriate for younger readers. Scholastic books were often in the annual list of “challenged books” compiled by the American Library Association.
“We strongly believe our books and magazines need to address tough topics that are relevant, even if we get backlash or boycotted,” he told the Associated Press last year.
Mr. Robinson presided during a period of sweeping change in business and culture, including the rise of digital media, increased emphasis on diversity and scrutiny of the past. In 2016, Scholastic pulled “A Birthday Cake for George Washington,” a picture story about two people enslaved by Washington, after widespread allegations that the book presented a benign portrait of slavery. This spring, Pilkey agreed to withdraw “The Adventures of Ook and Gluk” because of what he called “harmful racial stereotypes.”
In an interview with the AP last year, Mr. Robinson said that Scholastic aimed to educate readers in an evenhanded way.
“We are dealing with issues like global warming, racial inequality in a way that doesn’t polarize the issue but gives points of views on both sides and is a balanced neutral position but not in a sense of being bland,” he said. “Here are the arguments on the other. Here is what people are saying. Here are questions you can ask to formulate your own view.”
Mr. Robinson was a former chair of the industry trade group the Association of American Publishers and a member of the Association of Educational Publishers Hall of Fame. In 2017, he received an honorary National Book Award for his contributions to the literary community. Two years later, he was cited by PEN America for his contributions to free expression.
His marriage to Helen Benham ended in divorce. Survivors include two sons.
“Working with you and the team at Scholastic on Harry Potter has been one of the most significant and meaningful partnerships in my life,” Rowling, the British author for whom Scholastic served as the U.S. publisher of her Harry Potter books, said in a 2019 statement provided for the PEN award. “A unique relationship exists between authors and the publishers who have supported them — and you, Dick, have supported me and my work in countless, indescribable ways.”
— Associated Press
