Robin Lisa Navarro, massage therapist and avid hiker, dies - Baltimore Sun

[massage]

Robin Lisa Navarro, a licensed massage therapist whose practice included work with ALS patients, died of metastatic breast cancer Sept. 22 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The Cedarcroft resident was 57.

Born in Waltham, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of Paul W. Perry and Darlene Thomas.


Advertisement


Ms. Navarro moved to Baltimore nearly 35 years ago. She joined Zurich Insurance and later worked at Chef’s Expressions, a Timonium catering business, and at the Gomez Art Gallery in the Mill Center in Hampden.

She was also an assistant to photographer Connie Imboden.


Advertisement


Ms. Navarro later earned an associate of arts degree at the Community College of Baltimore County. She became a licensed massage therapist in 2005.


Expand
Autoplay
Image 1 of 49


Michael Thomas Britt was a revered church musician and choir director who composed organ accompaniments to 1920s silent films. (Handout)


“Many of her clients became lifelong friends and praised her healing energy and words of wisdom. Robin would often say that helping others equally benefited her,” said Brigid Baroody, an anesthesiologist at Mercy Medical Center, whom Ms. Navarro married in 2014. “She had the ability to heal energetically.”

“Robin did not focus on negativity,” her wife said. “She was grateful for life.”

Dr. Baroody said the couple met by happenstance on Labor Day 1995.

“We were both driving in separate cars along Route 1 leaving Rehoboth Beach,” she said. “Traffic was inching along and we were able to talk and exchange contact information — as luck would have it.”

The couple’s daughter, Tess, was born in 2001 and is a student at Georgetown University.

“Robin was a grounding presence and protective, who provided kind words of advice and reason and a mother’s unconditional love,” said her wife.


Expand
Autoplay
Image 1 of 114


Comedian Judy Tenuta, a brash standup from west suburban Oak Park, who cheekily styled herself as the "Goddess of Love” and toured with George Carlin as she built her career in the 1980s golden age of comedy, died Oct. 6, 2022, at age 72, according to her publicist. (Chris Pizzello/AP)


Ms. Navarro’s routine back then was to drop their daughter off at Roland Park Elementary School and the Friends School of Baltimore. “This was a short but sacred time they shared,” Dr. Baroody said. “Robin would say that watching Tess play sports at school was ‘better than any Super Bowl.’”


Advertisement

The Morning Sun​

Daily

Get your morning news in your e-mail inbox. Get all the top news and sports from the baltimoresun.com.


She also attended her daughter’s dramatic performances at Friends School musicals, including “Les Miserables.”

After Ms. Navarro was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, the couple began traveling more. Ms. Navarro enjoyed outdoor activities and was an avid hiker. She took walks through the Dolomites in Italy, the Isle of Skye in Scotland and Mürren in Switzerland. Each Christmas season she and her family went to New York City and at spring break they visited Puerto Rico and Charleston, South Carolina.

Ms. Navarro was a home cook and regularly worked out at Lynne Brick’s in Belvedere Square. She was part of a group who attended spin classes Sunday mornings. She followed this up with coffee and conversation at Atwater’s.

“Robin was a great storyteller and had a quick-witted humor,” her wife said. “She was loyal, kindhearted and a shining spirit. She also showed extraordinary courage and resilience, positivity and grace, and lived a full life.”

Dr. Baroody said her wife enjoyed doing things on her bucket list. “On Aug. 8, Robin and her best friends checked off their bucket list one more event — seeing Lady Gaga in concert in Washington.”

A memorial service will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 12 at the Friends School of Baltimore auditorium at 5114 N. Charles St.


Advertisement


Survivors include her wife of eight years in a relationship that lasted 26 years, Dr. Brigid Baroody; a daughter, Tess Baroody of Washington, D.C.; four brothers, Richard Fisher of Anaheim, California, Charles Fisher and Robert Fisher, both of the Atlanta area, and Paul Perry; and many nieces and nephews.