Gloria Robinson was a strong woman.

With decades of experience managing restaurants, she knew how to get things done and put out fires.

She was so tough her husband, Odell, used to jokingly call her Mike Tyson, the famous boxer.

"She didn't take no stuff," Odell Robinson said. "She was small in stature, but you didn't want to mess with her."

But she also had a "pure heart," said their son, Lamont Robinson.

"Under all of that, she was very caring and compassionate," he said. "She always made the other person feel better when she was around."

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Gloria Robinson had to be tough. At 64 years old, she was fighting leukemia and lupus while managing the kitchen at Nino's Southern Sides, a Shorewood restaurant that served southern soul food classics like fried chicken, fried catfish and collard greens.

"There were days she would move slower than normal, but she never wanted anyone to worry about her," her husband said.

The coronavirus pandemic changed everything for the Robinsons.

Odell Robinson was admitted to the hospital March 22, and Nino's closed the next day.

Gloria Robinson started developing symptoms soon thereafter, and she was admitted to the hospital March 27.

The high school sweethearts, married for more than 40 years, were not able to see each other, but they could talk on the phone. Their phone conversations stopped March 30. Odell Robinson was released from the hospital that day. Gloria Robinson, meanwhile, was hooked up to a ventilator.

After more than two weeks on the ventilator, Gloria Robinson died April 15.

Food for the soul

Gloria Robinson always had a love of cooking, her husband said. She managed several restaurants in Milwaukee, including Saz's.

While soul food was her specialty, Odell Robinson said she also liked to cook Italian cuisine, Greek dishes and other flavors from around the world.

When she retired, she sold fried chicken and fish dinners to Milwaukee restaurants on Friday night, which caught the attention of Valerie Daniels-Carter, president of V&J Foods Holding Companies.

Daniels-Carter asked the Robinsons whether they would consider coming out of retirement to run a soul food restaurant as co-owners.

Nino's Southern Sides opened in Shorewood in 2014. Odell Robinson said the Shorewood community has been "very supportive" of the restaurant.

They opened a second restaurant, Nino's Express, on King Drive in 2015. That restaurant has been under different ownership since 2018.

The fate of Nino's is unclear, Lamont Robinson said.

"Our hope is that it does live on, if it's done the right way," he said.

While some may underestimate the virus, Lamont Robinson urged people to continue to exercise caution to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community.

"Even though it may not affect you directly, you could pass it on to a loved one without realizing it," he said.

Contact Jeff Rumage at (262) 446-6616 or jeff.rumage@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffRumage or Facebook at www.facebook.com/northshorenow.