John Robbins Who Said No to An Ice Cream Fortune and Yes to a Food Revolution Has Died

Vale John Robbins 1947-2025

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John Robbins turned his back on the Baskin-Robbins fortune and gave the world something far richer

If you’ve ever sipped almond milk in a café, questioned a factory farm, or even just scanned a label for ethical sourcing, you owe something, directly or indirectly, to John Robbins.

The bestselling author of Diet for a New America and co-founder of the Food Revolution Network has died, aged 77, from complications of post-polio syndrome. But his ideas are far from gone. In fact, they’re in your fridge, on your plate, and embedded in the rising generation of eaters demanding food that’s kind to animals, people, and the planet.

Robbins, the man who walked away from the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, wasn’t just turning down family money, he was rewriting the recipe for how the world thinks about food. When his 1987 book came out, it was a bombshell: full of receipts, outrage, and possibility. Long before plant-based became a lifestyle trend or ESG hit boardrooms, Robbins was asking the awkward questions: What are we eating? Who profits? What does it cost, really?

His work didn’t just sell millions of copies, it helped seed a movement. From the 1990s vegan awakening to today’s lab-grown meat and regenerative debates, the ripple effects are everywhere. Robbins put ethical eating on the cultural map, well before oat lattes or Impossible patties hit the scene.

But his was never a polished TED-talk life. Robbins lived with the physical toll of childhood polio, and in later years, Post-Polio Syndrome. And yet, he ran marathons. Practised yoga. Raised a family. And mentored a generation of changemakers, including his son Ocean Robbins, now CEO of the Food Revolution Network, and steward of a million-member community built on his father’s ideals.

The Food Revolution Alliance, a newly launched nonprofit, will continue this legacy, focused on the same radical questions that drove Robbins’ life: How do we eat in a way that heals, not harms? Who gets access to healthy food? And how do we break the industrial-food addiction that’s burning through our bodies and the biosphere?

John Robbins didn’t just change the menu. He changed the meaning of what food could be.

Vale John Robbins.

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