Irene Robinson
Obituary

Irène Robinson, who turned 90 on the 5th of January, died peacefully in her home in Laurel Canyon in the wee hours of Sunday morning the 25th of January 2026, surrounded by her family. She had been in hospice care at home since October, having declined gradually but significantly in the last five years with vascular dementia.

Irène was a holocaust survivor, born in Paris, France in 1936 to Abram and Elka Dobjanski, Lithuanian and Russian immigrants living in the Marais, the Jewish section of Paris. Her sister Nadine was born 6 years later, when the Nazi occupation was fully underway. Not long after her father went into hiding and her mother was turned in by a neighbor and taken to Auchwitz. Elka died shortly after the camps were liberated, but not before she got to see that her daughters had lived, hidden and saved, thanks to their cousin’s wife Marie Louise Maro. Before Elka's death, Irène promised her mother she'd take care of Nadine, and so she did: She was devoted to her little sister all her life, until Nadine's death in 2022.

After the war the girls stayed in Paris with their father until they emigrated to Weehawken, New Jersey in 1950. Irène finished high school in one year, at age 15, and immediately started working in various secretarial jobs in New York City until she landed a position at Lazard Freres. She married very young, at 17, and was moved to Miami where she ran a record shop and a bookstore, which she loved. At 21, she divorced and moved back to New York. She then met and married artist Lewis Zacks, and was hired by folk music manager Harold Leventhal. As a booking agent, and a road manager, she worked closely with The Weavers, Pete Seeger, Theo Bickell, Jaques Brel and many others in the genre. Eventually her main client, Judy Collins, also became a dear friend, and she toured with her and her band extensively. During this time her sons Daniel and Stephen were born, and while Lewis worked in advertising, she was a working mother of two in the music business of 1960s New York City. She became active in the Civil Rights movement, and found herself in the counterculture exploring new modalities of healing and self expression, continuously trying to unravel the traumas of her childhood. She wound up divorcing again in 1968.

Irène and Andy met at a Christmas party in 1969, and they married on March 9th, 1970. Their daughter Rachel was born in 1973, and the family eventually moved full time to California.  Irène phased out of the music business to spend more time with Rachel and to support Andy’s acting career. They lived by the beach in Pacific Palisades and Rustic Canyon, then moved east to Laurel Canyon. Irene sold real estate for a while until they relocated for four years to Idyllwild, a small community in the mountains above Palm Springs. There, Irène made a gorgeous home, worked at Rachel’s school, and immersed herself in the natural world. When Rachel entered 7th grade they moved back to Los Angeles,  and Irene began managing artists again, this time working with screenwriters and directors. Whenever possible she traveled with Andy, whether he was on tour with a play, or making a film on location. She made their new house on the other side of Laurel Canyon into a sanctuary, where Andy lives today.

She took her role as dramaturge to Andy’s plays and productions at the Matrix and at USC quite seriously. She was deeply valued for her discernment and discipline. She would never bullshit you, and if you were up for it, she would make you better. What always lay beneath the surface was a wicked sense of humor, a soft silliness, and a childlike sense of wonder that radiated out from her crystal blue eyes. She cared for others with acts of service and kindness and practical advice. She never forgot the people who helped her and Nadine survive the war, and she quietly paid forward these selfless acts whenever she saw the opportunity.

And she made it a priority to return to Paris every year to visit Marie Louise. She took her children and grandchildren to Paris any opportunity she got. Irène loved Paris, and her love for the city was infectious. When her father died she inherited his apartment there, and for many years she and Andy would spend every late spring into summer in the City of Light. It was during these years that she began to write down her stories. She attended a writing workshop in LA, and worked on many essays about her life. In the last few years, with the help of Andy and Rachel and others, those essays were compiled into a memoir called “Pieces of my Mother.”

In her last few months she twinkled and laughed, mostly overcome with love and gratitude for everyone who was helping her, acceptance and grace for what was happening, and quiet forgiveness for all the friction of life and challenging human dynamics. She was a picture of peaceful presence, and a gift to any and all in her field of light.

In the end, Irene reluctantly left behind her beloved husband Andy, their daughter Rachel, her sons Dan and Steve Zacks, her grandchildren Sierra, Callie, Ford Zacks, and Willy Cosmo Culhane, her daughters-in-law Tammy and Cindy Zacks, her son-in-law Joseph Culhane, and her niece Karin Greenberg, as well as countless dear friends who have become extended family.

She recently said that that she was grateful for her “funny, wonderful life,” and asked us to remember that life can be wonderful. She spoke of imagining she was walking through the woods with her mother and listening and learning “the language of the flowers.”

As she blew out the candle on her 90th birthday cake she welled up with emotion and said “I’m glad I was here.”