Son of Ray Charles to speak at YSU

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Ray Charles Robinson Jr., the oldest son of music icon Ray Charles, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University as part of the Skeggs Lecture Series. The title of the lecture is “Character, Education, Self-Reliance and Intellectual Independence.”

The lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Free parking is available in the M1 parking deck on Wick Avenue. For more information, contact the YSU Office of Alumni and Events at 330-941-3497.

In addition to the public lecture, Robinson will attend a screening of the movie about his father, “Ray,” at 2 p.m. Feb. 16 in the auditorium of Williamson Hall. The screening and question-and-answer session that follows are free and open to the public.

Robinson also will visit Williamson Elementary School in Youngstown at 10 a.m. Feb. 15 to talk with students about character. And at noon that day, Robinson will attend a performance by students in YSU’s jazz program at the Butler Institute of American Art.

Robinson is an independent film producer. He was co-executive producer of “Ray Charles: 50 Years of Music”; co-producer of “Christmas Jubilee/Ray Charles with the Voices of Jubilation”; producer of and appeared in “Black Prince,” an Anetole Ivonov film and a Grand Jury Prize award winner of the New York International Independent Film Festival; co-producer of “Ray”; and co-producer of “Hotel California,” in addition to many other projects.

He is the author of “You Don’t Know Me: Reflections of My Father Ray Charles,” which offers an intimate glimpse of the man behind the music.

He is the founder of the Ray Charles Jr. Foundation for America, a public charity with an enduring commitment for creating positive, lasting results through implementing innovative solutions to critical social issues impacting economically challenged communities across America.

The Skeggs Lecture was established in 1966 in memory of the late Leonard T. Skeggs Sr. Skeggs came to Youngstown in 1919 as educational secretary of the YMCA. In 1924, he became general secretary, a position he held until his death in 1933. It was Skeggs who prompted Howard W. Jones to become the first president of what eventually became YSU. He also was instrumental in raising funds for the fledgling school.