SOUTH LONDONDERRY, Vt. – Robin M. Key, 72, of Londonderry, Vt., died on April 30, 2026, after a brief illness. Born in Evanston, Ill., she was a respected landscape architect and the founder of RKLA Studio in Manhattan.
After graduating from the University of Vermont with a degree in plant and soil science in 1977, she continued her academic training in landscape architecture at Cornell University. In 1982, she and her husband moved to Jane Street in Manhattan, where they lived for 42 years. Robin practiced as a landscape architect in Greenwich Village while raising three children and subsequently founded RKLA Studio in 2003. As her business grew, so did her interest in public works and larger city projects, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, Tavern on the Green in Central Park, and Serviam Gardens, an affordable housing project in the Bronx.
In 2010, Robin joined the board of trustees of The Olana Partnership, a New York State historic site on 250 acres in Hudson, N.Y., that preserves the work and landscape of the American painter Frederic Church, foremost of the Hudson River School in the late 19th century. In April, as cochair of Olana, Robin helped to host a gala event for 400 people at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to begin the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Church’s birth.
Robin was elected a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2018. She served on the Stewardship Council of the Cultural Landscape Foundation of Washington, D.C., and was on the advisory board for the Noguchi Museum in Queens, N.Y. The latter continues an intriguing relationship her family had with Osamu Noguchi when he came to rural Indiana from Japan as an adolescent with no particular ties to family or country.
Robin and her family own a 300-acre farm in southern Vermont. Here, Robin built her own gardens focused on perennials for cold climates, native trees, and shrubs. With her husband, much of the property was established as a working tree farm, producing timber and maple syrup. Robin guided the construction of miles of hiking and ski trails, large fields and ponds, and stonework in collaboration with Dan Snow, a well-known dry-stone sculptor.
Robin was an exceptionally generous person in both her personal and her professional life. All her friends loved working with her because of her curiosity about the natural world and her knowledge of what grows underfoot and nearby.
She is survived by her husband of 50 years, David M. Key; their children, Mckendree, Lindsay, and Ely Key; and four grandchildren.
Robin’s love infused and sustained her family. She is missed by all for her warm spirit, but also for her iron commitment to making the world a more beautiful place.
A service will be held on May 30, at 2 p.m., at the Peru Church in Peru, Vt., where gifts can be made in lieu of flowers.