Charlene Robbins Kunitz '52

Charlene Robbins Kunitz '52, singer and voice teacher, passed away Feb. 21. She was 93.

Charlene Robbins was born in Los Angeles in 1929. She started performing at age 12 and received her undergraduate degree in music from UCLA, where she met Don Kunitz. They married and moved to Pittsburgh where she sang with the Pittsburgh Opera Company. While living there, their daughter Judith was born.

In 1963, the couple moved to Davis, California, where their daughter Mela was born, and where Kunitz lived for 60 years, honing her music skills singing folk songs, teaching guitar and voice lessons, directing the Unitarian Church choir, and performing with pianist Liz Young in their musical show "Victoriana."

In her 40s, Kunitz received her master's degree in vocal performance from Holy Names University. She then established a voice studio in her home and taught voice classes for the Davis Art Center. Her philosophy was that there are no monotones — only tonally challenged singers!

Kunitz is survived by her daughters Judith Kunitz of Berkeley, California, and Mela Kunitz of Portland, Oregon; grandson Dean Linnard of Astoria, New York; brother Bernard Robbins, sister-in-law Barbara Robbins and Mark Robbins of Los Angeles; and niece Lisa Paps of Paris, France. She was preceded in death by her husband in 2002.

The family thanked Neelam Rahl, who cared for Kunitz for the last year and a half, and expressed a desire that honors a life in music: "May her memory be for a song."