Farewell To a Great Lady and Newspaper Titan
Word came rapidly of the death of Patricia “Pat” Robinson. She was the guiding light and wise executive assistant to her newspaper partner and brother, Dean Singleton. Together, as a team, they became one of the largest newspaper organizations in the United States under The Media News Group flag. Headquartered in Denver they operated over 160 publications including some of the nation’s leading newspapers. In every successful organization there are key players to make things happen and do the heavy lifting. “Pat” was the wing beneath Dean’s fantastic family success story. History will record that the Singleton duo were the most successful newspaper owners and operators in Colorado history.
Pat was the gatekeeper, and we knew her well. She and Dean were always kind to The Villager, and we joked that we were one of the few newspapers that they didn’t own. Dean always described The Villager as one of his hometown newspapers while he resided in Cherry Hills Village and still reads the paper from his Denver home.
The loss of his beloved sister to the metro community is a big void. The life and times of the rise of the Singleton empire is now diminished with her death. In failing health, she departed her multitude of friends recently to be with her daughters in Dallas, Texas where she passed away at 83 years of age. Her funeral was held in her hometown of Graham, Texas, November 5th. She and Dean grew up in Graham and Dean was a newspaper boy at the newspaper that one day he would own.
The National Newspaper Association visited the Gaylord newspaper on an NNA bus study mission and was hosted to a tour of the printing plant and a Texas BBQ. During Dean’s tenure he had his favorite publisher, Roy Robinson, (no relation) a Colorado publisher and past Colorado Press President as his hometown Graham newspaper publisher. While at the helm of the Gaylord operation Robinson became president of the 600 member Texas Press Association. Now retired, he is living back in Denver where he has been involved with the Rockies baseball organization and lunches with newspaper friends.
We last visited with Pat at the home of Dianne Bartlett, a longtime friend of Pat and hostess to many summer yard parties with many of her guests. Pat would meet and greet so many of her friends who will miss her wisdom and friendly smile.
A celebration of Pat’s life will be held at 3 p.m. Monday, November 24th in the Seawell Ballroom at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. A reception to follow.
God Bless Pat and Dean!