Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

September 5, 2025

CHARLOTTE – Russell Robinson was a brilliant attorney, a man of character, a committed civic leader, and devoted to lifelong friends.  He married Sally Dalton, and with her provided his three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren with unbounding love, inspiration and laughter.  He will remain a vibrant force in each of their lives forever.

Russell M. Robinson II died on Friday, September 5, 2025, in his beloved Linville home surrounded by family. He was 93.

Russell was the youngest of John and Cammie Rodman Robinson’s three sons.  He grew up on Edgehill Road in Charlotte and attended Eastover Elementary and Alexander Graham Junior High before spending his high school years at Woodberry Forest.  There, he excelled in the classroom and on the playing fields.  He was the editor of the school newspaper and the star catcher on the school’s baseball team.  When Russell broke his arm over spring break, he lost the rest of his baseball season but quickly pivoted to track - and broke records running with his arm in a cast.

After graduating from Woodberry, Russell went to Princeton, where he excelled in the classroom and, more notably, won a bet with friends by throwing a baseball over Blair Arch.  Princeton captured his heart.  But not as deeply as Sally.  Russell frequently hitchhiked from New Jersey to Durham to visit her at Duke.  When not hitchhiking, he wrote Sally almost nightly.  They exchanged over 300 letters.

Unable to maintain this regime, Russell transferred to Duke for his junior year.  Sally was 19 and he was 21 when they were married on September 4, 1953.  As Sally started her junior year, Russell skipped his senior year and entered Duke University School of Law on an accelerated program.  During his three years in law school, he was the top student of his class and editor in chief of the Duke Law Journal.

His calling to the law came naturally.

His father, John Moseley Robinson, was a prominent Charlotte attorney.  His great-grandfather, William B. Rodman, was a justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court and principal draftsman of the state’s Constitution.  His uncle, William B. Rodman Jr., also served as a justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

After law school, Russell and Sally returned to Charlotte where in 1960 Russell and friends, J. Carlton Fleming, Robert Bradshaw, and later Robin Hinson, formed a new law firm.  From its founding the firm, now Robinson Bradshaw, emphasized collaboration and teamwork rather than billable hours.  The firm’s remarkable culture of hard work and collegiality developed from there.

Russell devoted 57 years to the practice of law.  Shortly after graduating law school, he began work on what would become the definitive book on North Carolina corporate law.  Working weeknights and weekends from the rocking chair in his and Sally’s bedroom, he finished it five years later.  Aptly entitled “Robinson on North Carolina Corporation Law,” it remains the seminal work on the topic.

Russell was smart as a whip in an absent-minded professor sort of way.  He’d grab a Dictaphone for an out-of-town deposition and return with the hotel’s TV remote control instead.  Janice Mauney, his assistant for 55 years, remembers the time he called her from Florida and asked her to call him a cab.  Except he didn’t know exactly where he was.

Always wittily self-deprecating, there was no mistaking Russell’s keen mind.  When Business North Carolina wrote a series on “Pillars of North Carolina,” he got a kick out of being nicknamed “The Brow” referring to his bushy eyebrows – and a mind “as sharp as razor talons.”

When Russell retired from Robinson Bradshaw in 2013, the firm he started with two friends had exceeded every expectation.  In 1960, the founders had envisioned building a firm of five lawyers. Robinson Bradshaw is now home to 174, and is a firm widely recognized as a leader in the legal profession for its excellence, talent and professionalism.

In the past year, as the firm moved into the new Legacy Union tower uptown, Russell took a tour of the impressive accommodations.  The juices started flowing.  He turned to Janice and said, “Let’s do it again.”

Russell received many accolades during his legal career.  Among them were the Judge John J. Parker Memorial Award, the N.C. Bar Association’s highest honor.  He also received the Chief Justice’s Professionalism Award given by the North Carolina Supreme Court for “Dedication and Commitment to the Principles of Professionalism in the Legal Community in North Carolina.” His appointment to the Commission for the Future of Justice and the Courts in North Carolina is another testament to his ability and dedication to the legal profession.

Robinson was much more than an esteemed lawyer.  He devoted himself to serving the city and state of his birth.  He was particularly dedicated to education.

Early in his career, he began his long service (1965-2007) as legal counsel for the Morehead Foundation at UNC Chapel Hill (now the Morehead Cain Foundation).  He served almost 10 years as a trustee of Woodberry Forest School; many years on the Board of Vistors of Duke Law School (where there are two permanent endowments in his name - one for a student scholarship and one for an endowed professorship); 30 years as a trustee, and then chairman, of The Duke Endowment; and 10 years as trustee and chairman of the UNC Charlotte board, helping grow the school, which recently joined the top tier of research institutions in the nation.

As a result of these efforts, Robinson received the nationally recognized Service Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for his “extraordinary service to education.”

The Episcopal Church was a constant in Russell’s life.  He was baptized at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Charlotte and attended there until 1958, when he and Sally joined Christ Episcopal Church.  He served as Senior Warden three separate times over his long membership there. Russell served too many other nonprofits to list.  With each he was valued for his intellect and his wisdom, and his ability to see the big picture through the minutiae.

Often, Russell and Sally were honored together for their civic work.  UNCC’s Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts and the Robinson Center for Civic Leadership at the Foundation for the Carolinas bear witness to the couple’s contributions.

Russell and Sally also jointly received the Duke University Distinguished Alumni Award, North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine, and North Carolina Humanities Council’s John Tyler Caldwell Award for furthering the cultural and civic life of the state.

For Russell’s family and close friends, his legacy is more than the sum of his achievements or the grace that left the world a better place.  His legacy is most vividly felt in the memories and moments that live on.

There was the weeklong backpacking trips Russell took with three classmates from Woodberry Forest, C.D. “Dick” Spangler, John Lee and Ballard Morton.  Others joined in, including law partners Bob Sink and Ward McKeithen, and what began in 1979 as an adventure grew, for the better part of two decades, to become a beloved tradition.

His children remember the wonderful stories their dad told.  His magical way with words brought those stories to life.  Whatever their father did, he did all out.  When sailing with his children he would tell them, “We’re going to sail to the end of the earth.”  Always a proud competitor in both intellectual and physical pursuits, the courage and grace with which Russell accepted the frailties of age perhaps has inspired them the most.  As he moved from cane to walker to wheelchair, he’d smile and say, “Well, here I am, and aren’t I lucky.”

Russell’s biggest legacy was his 72-year marriage to Sally.  Beyond their achievements and awards, Russell and Sally shared a life of joy.  They’d catch up each night before dinner having what became known as “Beer Time.”  They enjoyed hiking, canoeing and many other outdoor activities together.  Their shared interest in the history and culture of Europe took them there often.  In addition, they frequently visited their two favorite cities, London and New York. Family and friends were always a big part of Russell’s life.  Summer vacations on the NC coast with the whole family, time spent at their Linville home, and holidays in Charlotte brought the blessings of family gatherings.  They kept old friends close, celebrating New Years and other milestones with the same childhood friends they began with, and adding more along the way.

Russell is survived by his wife, Sally Dalton Robinson, of Charlotte; three children, Cammie Robinson Hauptfuhrer (W. Barnes) of Charlotte, Russell Robinson III (Ann) of Greensboro and Sally Robinson of Boston; four grandchildren, Foster Barnes Hauptfuhrer (Caitlin) of Long Beach, Calif., Dillon Hauptfuhrer Fisher (Alex) of Chicago, William Russell Robinson (Sarah) of Durham and Patrick Dalton Robinson (Rilka Noel) of Atlanta; and six great-grandchildren, Adelaide Grace and William Jack Hauptfuhrer of Long Beach, Calif., Powell Robinson and Boden Gray Fisher of Chicago, and Brooks Arlon and Cole Dalton Robinson of Durham.

He was preceded in death by his parents and two older brothers, John and Rod Robinson.

A service to celebrate his life will be at 2:00 PM, Friday, September 12, 2025, at Christ Episcopal Church.  The family will receive friends following the service in All Saints Hall.  The service will be livestreamed at: www.christchurchcharlotte.org/funeral-live-broadcast/  for those unable to attend in person.

In lieu of flowers, a gift in Russell’s memory may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, 1412 Providence Road, Charlotte, North Carolina 28207, christchurchcharlotte.org or to Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, Virginia 22989, www.woodberry.org.

The family is deeply grateful for the care and kindness shown in the last few years by Deborah Allen, Lee Whittaker and Mary Williams in Charlotte and by Rachel Stewart, Paulina Jerez, Haley Ramsey in Linville.  The family is also grateful for the compassionate services of Medi Home Health & Hospice of Newland, NC.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606.  Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.