Robert Lee "Rob" Penny (August 6, 1941 – March 16, 2003) was an American playwright, poet, social activist, and professor.
A 1957 graduate of Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Penny had childhood aspirations of joining the priesthood.
Emanating from Pittsburgh's fabled Hill District creative arts core, he was a lead voice of The Centre Ave Poets Writer's Workshop, which included others such as Charlie Williams, Nick Flournoy and August Wilson, who would achieve later fame as America's premier African American playwright.
In 1968, he and his friend August Wilson, a fellow Pittsburgh poet and playwright, were approached by members of Pitt's Black Action Society (Curtiss E. Porter, Tony Fountain, E. Philip McKain), who had recently obtained funding, to establish the Black Horizons Theater, which staged performances until the mid-1970s.
[citation needed] The 62-year-old poet, playwright, teacher and activist died of a heart attack at his Hill District home in Pittsburgh on March 16, 2003.