Born Jean Robinson in Drouin, Victoria, she attended Geelong Church of England Grammar School and gained a Doctor of Philosophy in French literature at the University of Melbourne with a thesis on Charles Baudelaire, and undertook postgraduate studies at the Sorbonne.
In 1968, she was invited by H. C. Coombs, chairman of the Australian Council for the Arts, to become its first Executive Officer. Coombs became her mentor and friend. In 1987 she began a new career as an arts advisory consultant for corporate buyers.
She died in a Sydney nursing home after an 18-month battle with cancer of the oesophagus.
She died on what would have been Coombs"s 103rd birthday. In the late 1950s she hosted several television series on Herpes simplex virus-7, which were Movie Guide, Personal Column and What"s On.
