Irv Robbins

Birth Name:

Irvine Robbins

Birth Date:

December 6, 1917

Birth Place:

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Death Date:

May 5, 2008

Place of Death:

Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Complications due to old age

Cemetery Name:

Forest Lawn Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Business and Finance

Irvine Robbins was a Canadian-born American businessman. He co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin. Robbins grew up scooping ice cream at his family’s dairy. In 1945, he opened his first cone shop, Snowbird Ice Cream in Glendale, Calif., offering 21 flavors (when other cone shops only served vanilla, chocolate and strawberry). The following year, his brother-in-law Burton Baskin also opened a shop, Burton’s Ice Cream, in Pasadena. Within three years, Robbins had five Snowbird locations and Baskin had three Burton’s branches. Robbins’ father reportedly advised the two against running a business together because their individual creativity might be stifled. But the in-laws decided to combine their operations. In 1949, they purchased a dairy in Burbank, Calif., which gave them control over production. The two went on to franchise new stores, which helped them grow rapidly. In 1953, they renamed the company Baskin-Robbins, focusing on 31 flavors — one for each day of the month. By 1967, when the chain consisted of about 500 units, the partners sold the company for an estimated $12 million. Six months later, Burt Baskin died of a heart attack at age 54.

Fun Fact

The very definition of irony: his son, John Robbins, was groomed to take over the business. Instead, he became a famous vegan, and authored the first Vegan ‘Bible’ called “Diet for a New America”.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Forest Lawn Cemetery

69855 Ramon Road

Cathedral City, California, 92234

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California

Grave Location:

Serenity Chapel, Crypt 3B

Grave Location Description

Park on Memorial Drive and walk through the gate to the left of the fountain. At the end of the fountain look up and you will see the Serenity Chapel. Irv and his wife are both on the left side on the bottom row.