(Credit: Carlos Avila Gonzalez)

Joshua Robison, the husband of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, died in his sleep on Feb. 22. He was 79.

While Tilson Thomas was the music director and public face of the San Francisco Symphony from 1995–2020, Robinson was considered a vital part of the organization. He was a constant presence at the San Francisco Symphony, and at civic and arts events in and around San Francisco and in South Florida. To Tilson Thomas, he served as a creative partner and source of support.

Robison graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964 on a gymnastics scholarship. In 1967, he won the NCAA championship. He went on to work in advocacy in public schools and at the Bank Street College of Education. In 1987, Robison helped found the New World Symphony.

Last year, Robison produced an 80th birthday concert for Tilson Thomas at Davies Symphony Hall, and sat by Tilson Thomas’ side onstage for the duration of the celebration. At the concert’s end, Tilson Thomas sang along to the song “Some Other Time,” gesturing toward Robison on the lines: “There’s so much more embracing / Still to be done / But time is racing.”

Robison and Tilson Thomas became partners in 1976 and married in 2014.

He is survived by his husband, in addition to his sisters, including flutist Paula Robison.