[2][5] When Robertson was 15, his father was robbed and beaten by three black men while walking home from work, to which he attributes his early views regarding race.
He graduated in 1952 from William Penn Senior High School in York and spent two years as a medic in the United States Army.
He was running for a third term in 2001, and had won a tight race (by 48 votes) in the Democratic primary against city councilman Ray Crenshaw[6] only two days before legal charges were brought and Robertson was arrested and put in handcuffs.
[8] While he admitted that he had shouted the racial slur (calling it "a youthful incident of ingrained police racism"), he steadfastly denied all other charges against him and refused to step down while mayor.
[6][11] Robertson died on August 24, 2017, at Manor Care South in York, Pennsylvania at the age of 83, after being diagnosed with cancer about two years earlier.