OBITUARY NOTICES

February 20, 1921 - November 13, 2016

Robert B. Wilson passed away November 13, 2016 after a brief illness, at the age of 95. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 20, 1921 to Emma Lou and Howard Wilson. The Wilson family moved to Los Angeles in 1923, where he remained the rest of his life. He was a proud graduate of the University of California, Davis class of 1948, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Science with a major in Animal Science. He and his brothers, Howard and Clifford, formed Wilson Brother Poultry (1951-1960), a partnership which supported the raising of chickens in Lake Elsinore, California, by his brother Howard. While Robert had an interest in agriculture and animal husbandry, he took classes in finance at the University of Southern California (USC). In 1954 he was hired by the Shearson Hamilton brokerage firm, becoming one of the first African-American stockbrokers in Los Angeles, a profession which he practiced until retirement from Morgan Stanley at age 80.

Robert had great love for and knowledge of jazz, modern art, and African-American artists which lead to an appointment to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s board of trustees, from 1972 to 1985, and service on the Museum’s Graphic Arts Council. He played an instrumental role in mobilizing the groundbreaking 1976 LACMA exhibit Two Centuries of Black American Art, commissioning the Charles White I Have a Dream print for the exhibition poster.

Robert is survived by his sister Cortelia Davis, nieces Pamela Wilson, Yvonne Wilson and Jill Davis, and nephews Howard Wilson and Brent Andrew. We will miss his eclectic knowledge.