Richard Robinson (Buddhism scholar)

Richard Hugh Robinson (21 June 1926 – 6 August 1970) was a scholar of Buddhism and the founder of the first Buddhist studies program in the United States that awarded a dedicated doctorate degree.

In the 1950s he informally studied Sanskrit with Edward Conze.

He died in 1970 after an accident in his home.

Nearly two years after his death, the journal ''Philosophy East and West'' published a memorial tribute to him, in an issue that also included three of Robinson's previously unpublished papers.

Charles Prebish, in his 1975 edited introductory volume to Buddhism, wrote that in assembling the team of contributors to the volume .... the greatest thanks must go to Professor Richard H. Robinson... Hardly a sincere student of Buddhism emerges who has not been influenced by Richard Robinson in a very profound way.... Robinson, in his own fashion, rewrote the rulebook. Richard found new questions to ask, and with the asking has changed the face of Buddhology. If he could see the new face, there are no doubts it would be grinning. }}

Nearly fifty years after his death, in 2019, Robinson was profiled in ''Tricycle: The Buddhist Review'', and described as "the most important scholar of Buddhism you've never heard of". Provided by Wikipedia