William Robinson Jr., 54; Won Awards as Reporter, Producer for L.A. TV Stations

William Ingraham Robinson Jr., an award-winning television producer and reporter, has died. He was 54.

Robinson, whose 22-year television career took viewers to California loading docks, Tijuana sweatshops and Bosnian battlefields, died May 23 in Hermosa Beach of a rare form of cancer that was diagnosed seven months ago.

A man of varied and eclectic interests who traveled widely, Robinson held a degree from the London School of Economics and taught high school English in Colorado.

Most of his television career was spent at KCBS-TV Channel 2, where he was managing editor in 1990-92; at KTTV/FOX-TV Channel 11 and at San Francisco’s KRON-TV Channel 4, where he was chief political producer, among other duties, through most of the 1980s.

He covered numerous California and national political campaigns, including Democratic and Republican presidential conventions.

A documentary on California’s Port Chicago, where black dock workers loading ammunition toiled under unsafe conditions during World War II, won for Robinson one of his eight Emmy Awards.

He helped produce or write numerous other documentaries for national and local television.

Robinson and his wife, Carol Lin, an anchor and correspondent for CNN, divided their time between Atlanta and Manhattan Beach.

Robinson was born in Wichita, Kan., to a prominent family. His father, William Ingraham Robinson Sr., a lawyer and World War II veteran, unsuccessfully challenged Bob Dole in his first run for Senate.

In addition to his wife, survivors include a 2-month-old daughter, Chloe; and a sister, Mary Kip Fleming of Wichita.