Rafael Robb (born October 31, 1950)[1] is an economist and former professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Robb pleaded guilty in November 2007 to voluntary manslaughter in the high-profile death of his wife, Ellen Gregory Robb. Gregory Robb was bludgeoned to death with a chin-up bar.[2] Her death occurred during a December 22, 2006 argument over the couple's Christmas vacation plans in their home in Wayne, Pennsylvania.[3] Robb was sentenced on November 19, 2008 to a 5- to 10-year prison term.[2] Robb pleaded guilty on November 26, 2007, and resigned from the university, where he had been on leave since his arrest in January 2007.[4]
Robb received his bachelor's degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.[5] He is known in academic circles for his contributions to evolutionary game theory and industrial organization. He immigrated to the United States in the 1970s and attained a Ph.D. in economics at UCLA in 1981. Robb married in 1990 and joined the University of Pennsylvania staff in 1984 and had been a tenured professor since 2004.[6]
Robb's court case gained national attention in famous tabloids such as the National Enquirer. Robb specialized in game theory, a mathematical discipline used to analyze political, economic, and military strategies.[6] He had published numerous papers, with scholars from Greece, Israel, Japan, and the US, on game theory and other economic topics.[6] He is also a fellow of the Econometric Society, one of the highest honors in economics.[7]