WyCo Democrat Marvin Robinson, who promoted Quindaro Ruins but clashed with party, dies
Kansas state Rep. Marvin Robinson, a Wyandotte County Democrat whose vocal advocacy raised the profile of the Quindaro Ruins but who also clashed with his own party, has died. He was 67.
Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner confirmed the death on Friday. A cause wasn’t immediately available.
Robinson, who was first elected to the Kansas House in 2022, had lost the Democratic primary earlier this month to Wanda Brownlee Paige, an educator. His district encompassed an expanse of Wyandotte County along Parallel Parkway north to the Missouri River.
Garner offered his condolences to Robinson’s family and loved ones in a statement posted to social media on Friday.
“Representative Robinson will be remembered by many for his strong support for the preservation and national recognition of the Quindaro Ruins in Kansas City Kansas.” the mayor wrote, adding: “His community activism and commitment to Northeast Kansas City Kansas will continue to be both valued and appreciated.”
When Robinson, a Navy veteran, sought election to the Legislature, he consistently focused on the Quindaro Ruins and securing funding to restore the site. The ruins are the stone and brick remnants of a Civil War era boomtown in Wyandotte County and an outpost along the Underground Railroad that moved enslaved people to freedom.
The Republican-controlled Legislature in 2023 approved $250,000 in funding for the site, an earmark seen by some as a perk for Robinson after he sided with Republicans in key votes. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the funding, but the ruins later that year secured a $1 million donation as part of a settlement over Oracle, formerly Cerner, not fulfilling obligations tied to state incentives before the company vacated a Wyandotte County office complex.
Robinson’s votes earned him the ire of Democrats, who saw him as betraying core party values. Robinson provided votes to override Kelly’s vetoes of policies limiting access to food stamps and regulating the lives of transgender Kansans.
Robinson denied any dealmaking related to funding for the Quindaro Ruins. When the Legislature voted to override Kelly’s veto of a ban on transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports, he said he had hoped to find some middle ground on the issue but was put off by the aggression of those trying to convince him to vote no.
“It was all or none,” Robinson said at the time. “Then they started getting really rude and insulting and attacking and threatened to take me out and, my God what do you do.”
Kelly, in a statement, said Robinson had demonstrated a commitment to public service throughout his time in the Navy and in the Legislature. “My thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time,” she said.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement that Robinson “was a beloved member of the House of Representatives and served his district with grace and integrity.”
In recent weeks, while campaigning for a second term, Robinson had been dealing with medical issues. During an interview with The Star last month, Robinson said he was recovering from a recent stay in the hospital but feeling in better health.
Sen. David Haley, a Wyandotte County Democrat whose district overlaps with Robinson’s, said Friday that Robinson will be remembered as a “fierce advocate,” primarily for his work “uplifting the beautiful history” of Quindaro.
“I am deeply, deeply respectful and appreciative of what Marvin Robinson did, first and foremost, to keep a national historic treasure from being turned into a landfill,” Haley said, referencing an effort by developers to put a garbage dump at the site that was thwarted by community leaders in the early 1990s.
In 2023 Robinson said in an interview he long viewed the project of preserving the Quindaro Ruins as a method to restore a “sense of humanity” to the Quindaro neighborhood, bringing education of a strong history and good paying jobs.
Robinson faced three other Democrats in the Aug. 5 primary election. He won 22% of the vote – 377 votes – compared to Paige’s 49%.
Speaking to The Star after his primary defeat earlier this month, Robinson called his tenure in the statehouse the “honor of a lifetime.”
“I’m incredibly grateful they entrusted me that opportunity for the past two years,” Robinson said, adding that he planned to continue efforts to bring awareness and resources to Quindaro and economic development to the larger community.
DeLisa Fowler wrote on Facebook that while it was “with great sadness that I share the news of my Brother Marvin S. Robinson II’s passing, but I am also filled with joy knowing that he has entered the realm of the ancestors, where he will be embraced by our Mommy and all those who have gone before us. May his memory inspire us to live with love and purpose.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2024 at 11:00 AM.
