Ken is a well-known local businessman, notably through his newsagents shop on Marine Road in Dun Laoghaire, a location that allowed him to respond quickly whenever the all-weather lifeboat (ALB) was called out.
Initially, he was appointed 2nd coxswain in 1986 and subsequently in 1989 became the successor to the late Eric Offer who was best known as the coxswain of the 'John F. Kennedy' lifeboat that was stationed in Dun Laoghaire from 1967 until 1990.
In 1995, Ken Robertson and the Dun Laoghaire station took delivery of the current station ALB, the RNLB Anna Livia, a state-of-the-art vessel that cost almost €2 million that is capable of reaching a casualty ten miles offshore within 30 minutes and has a range of 250 miles.
In the course of his long career with the RNLI, Ken has been responsible for many notable services including the rescue of a swimmer in Killiney Bay who was saved just yards from a rocky shoreline in gale force winds in 2007. One of the longest calls ever was a 14-hour operation following the tragic loss of four sailors when their yacht, the Debonair collided with a ship close to Dublin Port in 2001.
Mark McGibney will be the new station coxswain effective 1st June. A volunteer crew member and a coxswain since 2002, he is the Sailing Manager at the nearby Royal Irish Yacht Club and lives locally with his wife and two children.
"Ken Robertson is retiring after a long-career as station coxswain during which he saved dozens of lives and rescued hundreds more," said Stephen Wynne, lifeboat operations manager. "All of us at Dun Laoghaire RNLI wish him well in retirement and also extend our gratitude to his wife Margaret who has been fully supportive in spite of the disruption to normal family life that voluntary lifeboat service brings."
During the course of Ken Robertson's service with the RNLI, the Dun Laoghaire ALB launched on service 535 times and saved 60 lives in addition to the rescue of many others. In 2007, he received the Thanks of the Institution for the rescue of the swimmer at Killiney.
