Funeral services for Dr. Jerry W. Robinson Jr. are 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church with burial at the church cemetery. Riverwood Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation is Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, from 12 until the time of services at the church.

Mr. Robinson, 83, died Monday, Aug. 31, 2015, at his residence. He was born in Amite County on Feb. 12, 1932, to Jerry W. Robinson and Ella Lee Robinson.

Jerry W. Robinson Jr. was a distinguished professor emeritus of rural sociology at Delta State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Professor at Houston Baptist College.

Dr. Robinson obtained a doctorate and Master of Science in sociology from Mississippi State University, a Master of Religious Education and Bachelor of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Louisiana State University, and a Bachelor of Art in sociology from Mississippi College.
Dr. Robinson worked in community development and was a member of the Community Development Society, Rural Sociology Society, Phi Kappa Phi, editor of the Community Development Journal and played a major role in the writings of proposals for Delta State University and other community development centered organizations in the Delta.

Dr. Robinson’s academic writings have been published on multiple occasions in over eight different professional journals in his field and has also been responsible for or involved in the publications of no less than seven other books on topics ranging from community development, stress and wellness and child safety (Snappy the Safety Turtles). His favorite award was “person of the year” for the Mississippi Delta in 2005.

Preceding him in death were his parents; brother, John; and sister, Cheryl.

Survivors are his wife, Barbara Jean Byrd Robinson; and children, Wyatt Robinson and wife, Angie, of Peoria, Illinois and their two children, Rachel and Ryan and his wife Rachel and their child Hunter of Jasper, Alabama; Addie and Chandler and her child Jade, Gina Robinson of Brookhaven and her three children, Peyton, Mia and Cody and wife Jordan and their son Avery, H. Lee Robinson and wife Wendy of Brandon, and their two children, Connor and Courtney, and Aimee Biagioli of Cleveland and her husband Joseph and their five children, Katherine, Kristin, Alexander, Ava and Haley.

To express your thoughts to the family, you may visit riverwoodfamily.com.