Robert A. Shinn

Robert A. Shinn, 66 and a retired corporate executive, was raised in South Jersey and has lived in Camden County since 1988. His link to West Jersey history (New Jersey was divided into two separate proprietary provinces under British rule) began in 1680 when family member John Shinn arrived with the first Quaker migration to settle Burlington, NJ.

Shinn is a retired former venture capitalist and a 1970 graduate of Brown University with an A.B. in American Civilization and a M.A. in Political Science in 1972. Praeger published Shinn's master's thesis, "The International Politics of Marine Pollution Control," in 1974.

Shinn is the Treasurer of the Camden County Historical Society and a member of the Historical Society of Haddonfield and the West Jersey History Roundtable. Shinn is a history consultant to the New Jersey State Natural Lands Trust and leads history tours of Petty’s Island (the subject of his next book). Together with Kevin Cook, who also co-authhored "Along the Cooper River," Shinn is the author of a nomination application to list Camden County's Cooper River Park Historic District in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. Shinn is a member of the Cooper River Watershed Association and has sailed on Cooper River Lake and made many kayak trips from Haddonfield to the Delaware River and back on the Cooper River.