William Lloyd Robbins III

William Lloyd Robbins III of Richmond, Va., and Spring Lake, N.J., passed away on August 8, 2023, surrounded by his family. Bill was born at the Jersey Shore Hospital in Neptune, N.J., on July 4, 1939, to William Lloyd Jr. and Henrietta Izen Robbins and was raised in Spring Lake, attending H. Mountz Grammar School and Manasquan High School where he was a star athlete in several sports. In 2019 Bill was inducted into the Manasquan High School Athletic Hall of Fame. His awards included best all-around athletic award class of 1957, seven varsity letters in football, basketball, and track and finished second to Frank Budd, the future world record holder, in the 100-yard dash at the Shore Conference Track Championships. He was also a member of the MHS Hall of Fame Track Team. After high school, Bill attended Vanderbilt University on a full football scholarship until a serious shoulder injury ended his football play.

After earning a Business and Marketing Degree from Rider College, Bill's lengthy career in consumer health and beauty aid product sales and marketing commenced in 1963 in the New York Metropolitan area with him being a retail sales representative for Chesebrough-Ponds Inc. Starting to advance his career, he then spent 8 years working for Johnson & Johnson in the Baby and Proprietary Division and earned entry into the highly coveted Ring Club for outstanding sales achievement, as well as promotions to the highest dollar volume sales responsibility in the country.

In 1972 Bill joined the General Products Division of Philip Morris. This business unit included the American Safety Razor Company where in 1984 he became Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the private label division and a corporate vice president and officer of the company with ownership interest. He retired from American Safety Razor Company in 1999.

In reflecting upon his career, Bill always thought his proudest accomplishment in business was in 1979 when he and a small group of industry executives met at the Chemist Club in New York City to discuss the need of establishing a private label organization to communicate the idea of promoting and furthering private labels to retailers and ultimately to consumers. This initial meeting spawned the founding of the Private Label Manufacturers Association which today represents over 4000 companies in North America, Europe and Asia with offices in New York, New York and Amsterdam, Holland. Bill served the organization as Industry Chairman of the Board and was a member of the Board of Directors and a committee chair for 15 years. Ultimately, he was inducted into the Private Label Manufacturers Hall of Fame in 2010.

On a personal note, Bill was an usher at St. Mary's Church in Richmond, Va., a member of the Knights of Columbus, and a volunteer at St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond. Also, during the past 25 years, Bill remained active playing golf, spending time with his grown children and 3 granddaughters, enjoying the winters in Virginia and summers at the shore running the boardwalk many mornings and having coffee with all his friends at Joe's Deli in Spring Lake.

Bill is survived by his wife, Bonnie Mordush Robbins, and his three children, Jeffrey Wellington Robbins and his wife Hong Anh Nguyen (LyLy) of Richmond, Va., Jennifer Robbins Riley and her husband Kerry Riley of Richmond, Va., and Mara Robbins Hennessy of Springfield, Va. He also is survived by his three granddaughters, Mary Catherine Hennessy, Maeve Elizabeth Mordush Hennessy, and Nora Robbins Hennessy, all of Springfield, Va., his brother Barry George Robbins, his nephews Barry Robbins, Jr., Neil Robbins and Sean Robbins and their families, all of New Jersey, his cousins, Richard Kaplan of Rehoboth, Delaware and Donald Samuel Kaplan of Rancho Santa Fe, California and their families, and Robert Carl Headlund, brother-in-law, of Fort Myers, Florida.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Woody Funeral Home of Richmond, Va. The family has chosen a private memorial service with a celebration of life to be held in Spring Lake, NJ, at a later date.