About Curtis D. Robinson
Curtis D. Robinson, D.H.L. migrated to Hartford, Connecticut from Birmingham, Alabama in 1958. He worked two full-time jobs and one part-time job for three years, until he was able to purchase a grocery store at the corner of Capen and Vine Streets at the age of eighteen. At the young age of twenty-two, Curtis D. Robinson became the owner of a restaurant, grocery store, cleaners, an apartment building, and a construction supply company. In 1969, Curtis D. Robinson started the Small Business Development Program, creating over one hundred small businesses in the greater Hartford and Springfield areas.
Curtis D. Robinson continued to grow as an entrepreneur and today is the owner, operator, and President of C&R Development Company, the largest minority construction management company in the East. Curtis D. Robinson recently owned the C&R National ATM Company, Inc., which was licensed to sell and lease ATM machines in thirty-eight states. He is also the owner of eight shops at Bradley International Airport, including a Brooks Brothers and CNBC, as well as the 55,000-square-foot Air Exchange Building. His other businesses include R&G Services, which operates the shuttle bus service at the airport, and R&G Parking, which operates, among others, one of the largest parking lots in downtown Hartford.
He is the co-founder and Chairman of the Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity (CDRCHE) formerly the Curtis D. Robinson Men's Health Institute (CDRMHI). The CDRCHE is an innovative partnership between Saint Francis and Hartford area religious and community organizations aimed at improving health in the minority community. CDRCHE addresses racial and health disparities and provide services that aid in community needs. Since 2010, the CDRCHE has reached over 10,000 men and women and over 50-lives have been saved from prostate cancer. Dr. Curtis D. Robinson sits on the boards of Trinity Health Of New England, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, the Connecticut Hospital Association, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, Overseer of the Carson Scholars, and serves on the board for the National Cobb Institute. Curtis D. Robinson has received international and national media attention for his work in Health Disparities on the BBC and the Tom Joyner Morning Show and is often called upon to serve as a key note for numerous events.
He and his wife, Sheila Durant-Robinson, are philanthropists for the Curtis and Sheila Robinson Foundation. Some of their Connecticut and nation-wide efforts include feeding and serving tens of thousands of inner city and suburban families for nearly thirty years. They also support efforts to combat abuse against women, HIV-AIDS, and poverty.Curtis D. Robinson and his wife have also assisted individuals with medical and hospital care, donated buses to churches and schools, and adopted a homeless shelter for displaced children. The list of their charitable contributions is endless; they embody the spiritual mantra for giving back.
In May of 2017, Curtis D. Robinson received an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters from Lincoln College of New England. Curtis D. Robinson is the former President of the Hartford Lions Club. He is a recipient of his numerous charitable contributions including the Urban League of Greater Hartford, the George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington Awards from Tuskegee University, the Doc Hurley Scholarship Fund, the NAACP, the Sickle Cell Anemia Association, The Ace Mentoring Program of Greater Hartford, the Gen Yeshiva School, Greater Hartford Academy of Arts, and many more.