Dr. Robert Lavinsky is a lifelong lover of natural beauty, and it was as a fossil collector at age 11 that he accidentally stumbled into the world of mineral shows and exhibits. That introduced him to the sport of collecting this particular facet of Nature’s Art and triggered a life-long addiction. The influence of great mentors in the Columbus, Ohio club and the book Gem & Crystal Treasures by Peter Bancroft changed his life forever.
Rob speaks both Russion and Chinese which helped his growing business as Russia opened up and minerals flowed out, particularly through friends at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum of Moscow. Rob received a doctorate in genetic engineering at the University of California, but his mineral business quickly grew to become the largest of its kind on the early internet for the new art class of fine minerals and crystals during the 1990’s. After graduation, he went full time into the mineral business and never looked back. Today, irock.com and its sister website, mineralauctions.com, together host the largest private archive of mineral sales records and information online.
The new mineral “Lavinskyite” was named in his honor by a NASA-affiliated laboratory in 2013, in recognition of his contributions and support oat the beginning of mindat.org in the late 1990’s, and his continuing contribution of information and donation of minerals to multiple institutions.