Chairman Robson Communities – Sun Lakes, Arizona
Ed Robson, Chairman of Robson Communities, graduated with a degree in business and banking from Colorado College in Colorado Springs. After college, he played hockey for Team U.S.A. and was an alternate member of the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. While in the U.S. Marine corps he was designated a naval aviator at Pensacola and served for five years as a helicopter pilot, attaining the rank of Captain. After leaving the Marines, Robson settled in Phoenix working as a salesman for Coldwell Banker and later as Director of Corporate Sales for the Del Webb Corporation. He started his first business in 1965, marketing resort homesites in Bullhead City, Arizona, and then developing the Pinewood Golf Community in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1972 Robson acquired the original farmland that became Sun Lakes and embarked in a community development program which has grown rapidly into the largest privately held adult resort retirement community in the country. Robson Communities currently includes Sun Lakes, a 3500 acre community with over 10,000 residents; a 2100 acre community in Tucson called SaddleBrooke; SunBird, a 320 acre golf resort in Chandler; and PebbleCreek, 2200 acres in Goodyear which opened in the Fall of 1992. Robson employs more than 820 people and is listed as the 19th largest private company in Arizona. He was the 1993 Heart Ball Honorary Chairman who was instrumental in netting approximately $1,000,000. In 1994 he was the Chairman for the Phoenix Boys and Girls Club and remains active on their Board of Directors. In addition, he serves on a number of civic boards including the Board of Directors of Bank One Arizona N.A., St. Luke’s Foundation, United for Arizona, American Heart Association and Chairman of the Cardiovascular Education Committee. The tennis program at the University of Arizona is named after his wife LaNelle. In 1994 he was inducted into his High School Hall of Fame in Arlington, Massachusetts. In 1993 he was selected by Arizona State University as Entrepreneur of the year.
