Fr. Gerald H. Robinson, SJ, died November 13, 2025, in San Jose, California, at the age of 78. He was a Jesuit for 60 years and had been engaged in counseling, retreat, and pastoral ministry and administration for 46 years. Most recently he was the director of campus ministry at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
Gerald Henry Robinson was born in San Francisco January 30, 1947, the son of Henry Robinson and Bernadette McArdle Robinson. He attended St. Ignatius High School, where he competed on the track and cross-country teams. He graduated in 1965 and entered the Jesuit novitiate in Los Gatos, California. As a Jesuit in formation, he studied philosophy at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington (BA, 1970); taught for three years at Loyola High School in Los Angeles; and completed theological studies at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. He was ordained a priest May 21, 1977, in his home parish, Holy Name of Jesus in San Francisco.
He briefly returned to the classroom at Loyola High School before receiving a counseling degree from Santa Clara University, and afterwards he devoted his ministry to the counseling office, the retreat center and the parish church. He served as a counselor at the Jesuit Institute for Family Life in Santa Clara (1987-1990) and as director of Manresa Retreat House in Azusa, California (1990-1994). A sabbatical year included the role of administrator of a church in West Yellowstone, Montana. Moving to Sacramento, he served as the director and staff counselor at the Ignatian Institute for Family Life (1995-1998) and as parish priest and then pastor at St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish (1998-2010).
His later assignments were associate pastor at Most Holy Trinity Parish in San Jose (2011-2012); retreat and pastoral ministry with the Sisters of Mercy retreat center in Auburn, California; chaplain at Cristo Rey High School in Sacramento (2012-2016); and finally as director of the Newman Center at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Health concerns brought him to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos in January of this year.
Fr. Robinson is survived by his brother, Richard, and sister-in-law Peggie Robinson of San Jose, California; niece Jamie Robinson Matzen; and nephew Kerry Robinson.
The Funeral Mass will be held Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 2 p.m. in Santa Clara Mission Church on the campus of Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara 95053. Inurnment will be at a later date at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.
Donations in memory of Fr. Robinson may be made to the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus, P.O. Box 68, Los Gatos, CA 95031, or to a charity of your choosing.