Nancy Farrell Robinson died peacefully on the morning of October 9, 2009 in her bed at home with her husband at her side. The cause of death was cancer. Nancy was born in Queens, NY, the second of three daughters to Robin Farrell and Ethel Goode Farrell. She was a 1954 graduate of Ridgewood High School and 1958 graduate of Douglass College earning a B.A. in English. While in college, she was the Military Ball Queen, a model for many college-related publications, and forged strong friendships that lasted her lifetime. She also began dating Arthur E. Robinson, Jr., captain of the Rutgers football team, and they married in July 1958 following her graduation. During the early years of their marriage, Nancy and Art lived in St. Bethlehem, TN while Art served as a paratrooper in the United States Army's 101st Airborne. They then moved to New Brunswick, NJ, followed by Williamstown, MA, and finally settled in the Princeton, NJ area.

Nancy earned her Masters Degree in Education from Rutgers University and went on to teach nearly 25 years. She was a reading specialist who spent more than 20 years at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, teaching 7th & 8th grade Language Arts, English as a Second Language, special education, and other subjects. In the process, thousands of lives were touched by her intellect, character, grace, class and wit.

Following her retirement from teaching, Nancy stayed very active with her growing brood of grandchildren and active in her community, proudly serving as a member of the Community Service Board at Morris Hall (Lawrenceville, NJ) and serving in leadership positions for her college reunions. She was also a skilled and avid knitter and seamstress and spent her time making beautiful clothes, curtains, American Girl dresses and other treats for her children and grandchildren.

In recent years, Nancy and Art traveled to Ireland and to other destinations with their children and grandchildren, including the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Orlando. For the last decade, summers and early fall have been spent in Maine at their lakefront home swimming, canoeing, kayaking, playing cards and other games with family and friends that came to stay.

She faced her own mortality with courage and an indomitable spirit. Family was first, last and always the most important thing in her life. She was mom to three very active boys, surrogate mom to many more, and teacher to hundreds. Her life has left a mark on thousands of people.

Nancy is survived by Arthur E. Robinson, Jr., her husband of 51 years; her sons Arthur E. Robinson III of East Hampton, CT, Michael E. Robinson of Lake Forest, IL, and David W. Robinson of Cranford, NJ; her daughters-in-law Maria, Frances and Amy; her grandchildren Emily, Grace, Hannah, Kate, Iv, Will, Tyler, Christian and Luke; and her sisters Barbara Farrell of South Hampton, NY and Ruth Laverty of Hackettstown, NJ.

A viewing was held on Sunday, October 11th, at Kimble Funeral Home, Princeton, NJ. A funeral service celebrating Nancy's life was held on Monday, October 12th, at Dutch Neck Church, Princeton Jct., NJ.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made in the memory of "Nancy F. Robinson" to the "Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Gibbon Fund" at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Foundation, 120 Albany Street, Tower 2, Fifth Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Always thinking of others, Nancy participated in cancer research protocols so that other people would benefit from what she was going through. Drs. Rodriquez and Gibbon cared for Nancy since her cancer diagnosis in 2006; their ground-breaking work initially drove her cancer into remission and gave the world years (as opposed to months) more with Nancy, a gift that will forever be cherished.