Joseph A. Robinette

Joseph Robinette, Tony-Nominated Playwright and Beloved Educator, Dies at 86

RICHWOOD, N.J. — Joseph Allen Robinette, Tony-nominated playwright, professor emeritus, and a devoted family man whose literary works touched generations of theatergoers, died on April 24, 2025, at the age of 86 after a long decline from dementia.

Born in Tennessee in 1939 and raised in Jasper, Georgia, Joe was the eldest of four children. His journey into the world of storytelling began at just ten years old when he took the stage in Atlanta, Georgia, sharing a scene with the legendary Boris Karloff. That formative moment planted the seed for a lifelong devotion to the theatrical arts.

A graduate of Carson-Newman College, where he was also a college sports radio announcer, Joe combined his passion for sports and performance from an early age. He attended graduate classes at the University of Tennessee and then Southern Illinois University, where he completed his PhD and met his future wife, Helen Marie Seitz. The two married in 1965 and began creating a life together.

“Dr Joe” joined the faculty at Rowan University (then Glassboro State College) in 1971, where he taught theater arts for more than three decades, mentoring hundreds of students and helping to shape the university’s performing arts legacy. He won numerous teaching awards including the university’s Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, and was named Professor Emeritus when he retired in 2005.

Beyond the classroom, Robinette authored or co-authored over 55 published plays and musicals, including his best-known work, A Christmas Story: The Musical, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical in 2013. He also collaborated with E.B. White on the authorized stage adaptation of Charlotte’s Web. When asked what he felt his greatest accomplishment was, he said “writing a letter to E.B. White.” Joe also wrote stage versions of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Anne of Green Gables, and Sarah, Plain and Tall, among many others.

He was honored throughout his career by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and other organizations for his enduring contributions to family and educational theater.

He also adored sports, especially basketball and baseball. On the neighborhood playground in Richwood, his hook shot was the stuff of legend—“unguardable,” his sons would later admit. He found delight in the rhythm and nuance of NBA games, particularly in the compressed chaos of their final moments. “Kids,” he’d say the next day, “guess how long the last 58 seconds of the Sixers game took?” Then he’d break it down: every foul, every commercial, every timeout—”it took 12 minutes and 17 seconds.”

Joe loved to travel, and he did it with the same curiosity and attentiveness he brought to everything else. He visited all 50 U.S. states and ventured abroad to Canada, Mexico, Greece, Czechoslovakia, England, Germany, Poland, and beyond. Whether on a road trip or abroad, Joe embraced the world with open arms and a storyteller’s wonder.

In a poetic twist his beloved wife, Helen, died less than 24 hours after his death. Their passing, so close together, stands as a final testament to a lifetime of devotion and a clear message from their generation, that behind every great man is a great woman.

He is survived by his five children—John, Anne, Michael, Christopher, and Andrew; and nine grandchildren: Adam, Ryan, Bryan, Braedon, Rachel, Aidan, Jolie, Mackenzie, and Nathan, all of whom he loved deeply. His family, students, colleagues, and readers remember him as a man of humor, humility, and heart—someone who taught that stories matter, that teaching is an act of love, and that even the last 58 seconds of a basketball game can be a lesson in paying attention.

There will be a joint viewing for both Helen and Joseph Robinette on Friday, May 9th from 5:00PM to 7:00PM in the McGuinness Funeral Home-(Washington Township Location) 573 Egg Harbor Road, Sewell, NJ 08080. The next morning at the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit Church, 17 Earlington Ave, Mullica Hill, NJ 08062 on Saturday, May 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.  A Funeral Mass, also for both Helen and Joseph Robinette, will follow from 11 a.m. to Noon.  Interment will be at a later date.

In lieu of flowers donations to the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit Church in Mullica Hill will be graciously accepted.