SCARBOROUGH – Maren Heidelauf Robinson passed away on April 13, 2021 in Scarborough, following a courageous fight against a rare neuromuscular disease. She was 78.

Maren was born on Oct. 23, 1942 in Hildesheim, Germany, the daughter of Dr. Ulrich Heidelauf and Gertrud Ostertag. In her ‘baby book’ recording the details of her birthweight and infancy, her mother had recorded that ‘Maren rarely played with dolls, but preferred playing in the mud;’ an early observation that would foretell her future love of the outdoors. Maren’s father was a reconnaissance pilot and aerial photography expert in the German Luftwaffe during World War II, who came to the United States as part of ‘Operation Paperclip’ to work for the U.S. Government.

Maren immigrated to the United States with her mother and sister, Barbara following her father’s relocation. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1957. Maren attended public high school in Princeton, N.J. and Dayton, Ohio, and went on to obtain her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Wellesley College, a Masters of Social Work from Simmons College and, later in life, a Juris Doctor from the Northeastern University School of Law.

Maren met Timothy C. Robinson, originally of Cape Elizabeth, in Boston, in a summer course on ‘Logic’ at Boston University. Tim sat behind Maren in class and, gripped by something more potent than logic, asked her out for a coffee. They were married in 1966 and went on to reside in Boston, followed by Cambridge, where they raised three sons, Michael, Tyler and Peter, each of whom attended the Shady Hill School in Cambridge where (despite her children’s misbehavior) Maren was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees.

After devoting herself to the rearing of her three sons—a challenge worthy of a Marvel superhero possessed of bionic patience—Maren returned to school and obtained her law degree, following which she practiced poverty law on behalf of the most needy of clients as an attorney for the Volunteer Lawyer’s Project of the Boston Bar Association, where she was ultimately the Managing Attorney. Maren was also a longtime member of the Chilton Club of Boston.

Following her retirement from the practice of law, she and Tim relocated from Boston to Cape Elizabeth in 2010. Maren had a lifelong passion for horses. In her retirement she was a regular at Sprague Farm in Cape Elizabeth where she enjoyed riding, driving a carriage and otherwise doting over three horses whom she dearly loved and who loved her just as dearly back, ‘Goober’, ‘Boots’ and ‘Coaster.’

In addition to her equestrian interests, Maren loved the outdoors and especially to fly fish. Over the years, she and Tim fished for trout in the waters of Maine, Montana, Alaska, Argentina, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Maren cared deeply about conservation and was a supporter of environmental causes. She was also an avid football fan of the New England Patriots whom she regularly watched until the very end.

She is survived and deeply missed by her husband of nearly 55 years, Tim; her sons Michael and Tyler (both of London, UK) and Peter (Belmont, Mass.), stepson, Tony (Dallas); sister, Barbara and brother-in-law Robert Ward (Hingham, Mass.); daughters-in-law Junghwa Shin (originally of Seoul, Korea), Roberta Fabbri (originally of Milan, Italy) and Anca Bieru (originally of Braşov, Romania); nieces Stephanie Chiari (Braintree, Mass.), Kimberly Kozuch (Pleasanton, Calif.) and Ann Strout Jones (Cape Elizabeth), nephews Frank S. Strout, Andy Strout (both of Cape Elizabeth) and Tim Strout (Northport, N.Y.); and grandchildren Max, Alex, Giulia and Victoria Robinson (all of London, UK), David and Theo Robinson (Belmont, Mass.) and step-grandson, Jake Robinson (San Francisco).

Please visit http://www.jonesrichandbarnes.com to sign Maren’s online guest book. Arrangements are by Jones Rich and Barnes Funeral Home, Portland.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust: https://www.capelandtrust.org/; and the Volunteer Lawyers Project of Boston: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/supportvlp.

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