Robin was born in Winnipeg Manitoba June 21st 1950. Robin was
the first child in the family but was soon joined by a sister Maria, born
in November 9, 1952. The family and Robin moved from Winnepeg to
Baie d'Urfe' Quebec when Robin was 3. From Baie d'Urfe' onto Moncton
NB when Robin was 6 where brother Jim was born in April 6 1957. Then
onto New Glasgow and back to Moncton to 111 Ranch Road in Gunningsville
when Robin was 9. Robin finished his elementary school in Gunningsville.
After Gunningsville the family moved to Toronto where Robin completed his
high school in 1969. From there he entered the University of Toronto
and graduated in 1973 with a degree in Electrical Engineering - the same
degree his father Robert received.
After graduating Robin went to work with Buroughs in Toronto as a computer
system salesman. After some distinguished success as a saleman Robin
went west in 1975 to Calgary and co-founded computer system company called
Syspro. It was in Calgary that Robin was first exposed to the mountains
through the local group of Calgary mountaineers. This exposure to
the outdoors and the love of "epic" adventures into the mountains proved
to be a formative and ongoing theme throughout the rest of Robin's life.
From Calgary, Robin packed up his van and moved to Vancouver in 1976 where
he enrolled in the University of British Columbia to complete a Masters
of Business Administration in 1978. After completing this degree
he did a number of things including tree planting and newspaper reporting
as well as returning to Calgary for some time. In 1981 he re-entered
the computer systems field with Sydney development, then to Health Care
Systems. After Healthcare systems he cofounded a company with his
brother Jim called Bluesoft Systems. Bluesoft wrote accounting software
as well as a number of utility programs. After the first phase of
Bluesoft Robin went on to work for MacDonald Detwiller and Associates,
Paradigm Development, The Greater Vancouver Regional District and finally
the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia (Bivouac.com).
In May 1985 Robin married Jennifer Getsinger. On July 21, 1989
their first son, Wolf William Tivy, was born. Chilko
Tivy was born. Chilko was named after Chilko Lake, a remote
area in British Columbia where Robin has been on a number of expeditions
to.