Ronald Robbins

Ronald (Ron) Robbins

Poughkeepsie - Dr. Ronald (Ron) Robbins, longtime resident of Poughkeepsie, died on January 20th in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 82. A beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, brother-in-law and father-in-law, Ron was also a widely-appreciated psychotherapist who had a practice in the Hudson Valley for over 50 years.

Ron was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1938. He attended the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where he met Gloria, his wife of 60 years. After they married, they moved to Columbia, MO, where Ron received his MA and PhD from the University of Missouri. After an internship at a hospital in Elgin, Illinois, Ron and Gloria moved to Poughkeepsie after Ron took up a position as a Psychologist at the Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck. Eventually, he moved into private practice and worked with patients from throughout the Hudson Valley. He was also the school psychologist for a number of private schools in the region.

Ron studied Psychodrama with Jacob Moreno in Beacon and eventually worked in the psychotherapeutic tradition of Bioenergetics. He became a trainer of the Bioenergetic Institute, an organization in which he also held leadership roles. A popular teacher, he traveled often to Brazil, Argentina, and various parts of Europe to train Bioenergetic therapists. In the 1970s he drew on Bioenergetics to develop his own therapeutic theory and method, called Rhythmic Integration, publishing the book Rhythmic Integration: Finding Wholeness in the Cycle of Change (also published in Portuguese). In his later years, he also developed a successful method for the treatment of panic.

Ron was also involved in many ways with the Poughkeepsie and wider mid-Hudson community. He was an active member since the 1960s of Temple Beth El in Poughkeepsie, and he also spent time studying at the Chabad of the Mid-Hudson Valley. In his last years in Poughkeepsie, he sometimes taught adult education classes on Jewish themes such as Kabbalah. Most recently, he and Gloria had been active in the Dutchess County Interfaith Council. A national Table Tennis Champion as a teenager, he played throughout his life at various Table Tennis clubs in the region. You could also find him practicing his perfect-form jump shot on indoor and outdoor basketball courts throughout Poughkeepsie. He was passionate about music, regularly attending all kinds of concerts and, in his later years, devotedly showing up at the Monday performances of the Riverbank Banjo Band at Umberto's. Finally, Ron and Gloria loved hosting all kinds of parties in their large Victorian house - many will have good memories of the warm atmosphere of "the big living room," "the little living room," and the dining room on those occasions.

Ron loved Poughkeepsie. Along with the institutions mentioned above, he loved the walkway over the bridge, Benny's Tenth Inning, the Palace Diner, the Bardavon Theatre and all the life that took place in the bustling vicinity of his home near downtown. As he visited these places and many more, Ron and Gloria were an inseparable couple. Everyone remembers them holding hands wherever they went. For them, Poughkeepsie was not only a great place to work and raise a family, it was also the setting for a great love story.

Among other things people regularly remember about Ron are his quick wit and his gift for giving sage advice that perfectly fit both the situation a person was facing and their own personality. Many will remember him for helping them get through hard times and for helping them to enjoy good times to the fullest.

Ron and Gloria left Poughkeepsie in early 2020 to be closer to family in their later years. He died from Covid a year after they left, his spirit strong until the end.

Ron is survived by his wife Gloria, his children Joel (San Diego) and Michele (Tucson), his granddaughters Julia, Hannah, and Jenna, his Brother Melvyn, his Sister-in-Law Holly Edelman, his Daughter-in-Law Liz Waters, and his Son-in-Law Burt Derman. We know that his memory will live on in their hearts and in the hearts of many others whose lives he touched.

Donations in his memory may be made to Temple Beth-El and/or the American Heart Association.