Charles Thomas Robbins

Charles Thomas “Tom” Robbins was born on October 20, 1944, in Spokane, Washington. He died at home in Thousand Oaks, CA on July 28, 2026, due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease. His parents were Richard “Lee” Robbins and Agnes Hughes Robbins. He had one older brother, Gilbert Robbins. His parents and Gil predeceased him.

Tom grew up in Long Beach, California. Music was an important part of his life from an early age. He played the clarinet, banjo and guitar. He worked in marketing and sales in the audio industry for both Infinity Systems in Chatsworth. CA, and Advent Corporation, which was based in Cambridge, MA. During those years, he lived in Los Angeles, the Boston area, Pullman, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and New York City. In 1982 he returned to Southern California to take a marketing position with Infinity.

Tom and Elayne Haggan were married in 1986. They lived in a house bordering Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks. Tom was an avid mountain bike enthusiast and spent many happy hours riding on trails in Wildwood and throughout the area. In 1989, he started TurboCat Lighting Systems to design, build and market high performance bicycle lights. He ran the company until retirement in 2014.

In Addition to Elayne, Tom is survived by nieces Adele and Gabrielle Robbins, nephews David and Tim Robbins, and grand-niece Chelsea Robbins.