Published: 22/09/2025 By Mark Lewis
The Symonds & Sampson partners are very sad to announce the death of Andrew Robinson. Andrew was a consultant of the firm and a former Senior Partner.Senior Partner Mark Lewis reflects on his friendship with Andrew:
"We first met in 1985 when our two firms, Senior & Godwin and Ensors, became a part of the Prudential group. I knew Andrew only by reputation as a highly respected and formidable chartered surveyor but I was surprised to meet a thirty year old with a maturity beyond his years. I was struck by his amiability but also his keen eye for business and when we became partners in the ‘new’ Symonds & Sampson in 1990 I learnt a great deal from him – how he remembered everybody and was keen to hear what they were doing, his determination to look after the hard working farmers, the expectation that everyone deserved a fair deal.
"Andrew relished a fight especially if it was against a landlord’s agent or the local council planning department. He was never afraid to go to arbitration on behalf of a tenant farmer or to a planning appeal where his eloquent advocacy invariably won the day.
"When Andrew became Senior Partner he succeeded Alastair Cowen who had instilled the spirit that we are a ‘family’ firm where respect and support must be uppermost. Andrew embraced this ideal and, although there were inevitable tense moments, we never had a cross word over our thirty year partnership.
"Andrew belonged to another era. He did not have a computer on his desk and preferred to meet or talk on the telephone rather than use email. His preference for a pen rather than a keyboard meant he had notes immediately to hand, even if it took a while to decipher them.
"Andrew had the gift of being comfortable in any social setting and will be very fondly remembered by all who met him. He is a huge loss to our firm and the farming community where his humour, intelligence and straight-forward common sense will be sorely missed."
Perhaps the thoughts of Andrew’s clients sum him up best of all:
“He was quite simply a farmer’s man. He leaves a tremendous legacy in the strength and reputation of Symonds & Sampson, and he certainly helped us as a family, and a business partnership, to develop and prosper, and it frankly has been an honour to work with him.”
“He had such a calming influence. When he walked into a room you knew that you were in safe hands.”
Our sincerest thoughts are with Andrew’s widow, Debbie, and his two daughters, Emily and Immy.