Highline Community College awarded local businessman and former college trustee Jerry Robinson an honorary degree at its 2008 commencement ceremony on June 12.

Robinson, 88, who served as a trustee from 1989-99, built the Robinson Newspaper chain - twice - in a distinguished business career that began in 1949 as an advertising salesman.

"His only regret after a career of nearly 60 years is that he never got a college degree," said his son, Ken Robinson, Robinson Newspapers associate publisher.

Robinson is the youngest of 10 children who grew up in Depression-era Portland. He was not able to afford the cost of a college education and entered the work force when others were setting off to school.

He married and moved north to Seattle, settling at Star Lake near Federal Way and working at Boeing. He was a Class A functional test electrician, rivet bucker and Jitney driver, among other roles there.

In 1949, he was laid off along with thousands of other workers whose services were no longer required by a company whose biggest customer, Uncle Sam, did not need any more bombers at the time.

Robinson took any job he could find then as he had a wife and three kids to provide for. He dug holes for septic tanks, cleaned oil stoves until he was a black in the face and even took a correspondence course in department store window decorating.

A neighbor told him about a job opening at the Kent newspaper. They needed a printing salesman. He applied and got the job.

He soon was selling printing and advertising and, in his first year, also wrote sports stories. He won an award as a sport writer and he is still very proud of this early writing effort.

In 1951, he bought the White Center News from its elderly owner.

Over the next 40 years, Robinson built a newspaper chain from Ballard to Federal Way that once ranked as the biggest group of its kind in the state, a large newspaper and commercial printing facility in Tukwila and the state's largest mailing company.

Up to 1989, Robinson Newspapers employed about 400 local people in the production of its weekly newspapers.

He sold the papers in 1989 to an investment group. That group held on through tough times until 1992 when they sold to the Seattle Times. The Times operated the papers until 1997 when they stopped publishing them altogether.

A week later, Robinson re-started the Federal Way News, Des Moines News and Highline Times papers because of his deeply-held belief that our communities need a local paper, need a forum and record of their history which is best provided by a good community paper.

Now, at age 88, he still writes a weekly column, takes pictures of local people and goes to the office every day.

"Jerry has been a leader in the community, a public servant in his time at the college, and an example to all for his hard work and success," said Highline President Dr. Jack Bermingham. "We think he has earned this degree."