Robin Malki (nee Snyder) was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 14, 1946. Her formative years were lived in a 5th floor, one-bedroom apartment shared with her parents, two older siblings, a dog, and a parakeet. That cherished time was permanently embedded and evident in Robin’s life outlook, personality, sense of humor, and street smarts.

In 1955, Robin’s parents won a house on a TV show (‘Feather Your Nest’) and moved the family out of Brooklyn to live in Plainview, Long Island. Being a city girl at heart, immediately upon graduation from high school Robin relocated to and began working in Manhattan.

Robin’s first marriage was at age 19; she divorced less than two years later, and married for the second time at age 26, only to also end that union in a divorce some six years later.

One 1979 summer evening, Robin met Jean Malki while walking down a Manhattan street at 1:30 a.m. Jean (who was new to this country and spoke no English) and Robin forged their relationship via a French/English, English/French dictionary: they married in 1980.

Robin and her husband adopted their two-month old daughter (Debra Malki Melendez) in 1986 from Brazil and returned to Brazil in 1989 to adopt their two-month-old son, Brandon Malki. Her family was the true love, essence, center and hub of her world.

Because of her affection and love for Brazil, while continuing to work as an office manager full-time, Robin also worked for 10 years as an adoption intermediary, helping others to adopt Brazilian children. She and the Brazilian person with whom she worked in this endeavor completed over two hundred adoptions.

Following her adoption work, while continuing to work full-time, Robin served for approximately 10 years as a volunteer Director of Task Brasil, a UK-based non-profit organization with several projects in Brazil that included a home for unwed teenage mothers and their babies and an eco farm to teach children living on the streets of Brazil how to farm and live off their efforts. Robin singlehandedly organized and ran many fundraising parties for Task Brasil. Robin’s husband and son volunteered at Task Brasil in Santa Teresa, Brazil for a summer when Brandon was in high school. In preparation for that trip, she and Brandon conducted several fundraisers in their then hometown of West Orange, New Jersey, where she and her family lived for 26 years before Robin and her husband retired and moved to Delray Beach, Florida in 2020.

Her wishes were to be cremated, with no service or memorial. Instead, donations may be made to Task Brasil or to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Robin Malki is survived by Jean Hamid Malki (Husband), Debra Meredith Melendez (Daughter), Brandon Malki (Son) and finally Lucas Mateo Melendez her beautiful (Grandson).

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