Robina Asti

Robina Fedora Asti (April 7, 1921 – March 12, 2021) was an American flight instructor and advocate for women's and transgender rights. Her advocacy changed government rules to allow transgender people to receive Social Security survivor benefits.

Childhood and education Asti was born April 7, 1921, in Manhattan, New York, to David Astey, a featherweight boxer, and Helen (Jund) Astey, a homemaker.

Career Asti was initially stationed on Wake Island where she was active in installing radios in naval aircraft in the run up to World War II. She was later promoted to test pilot.

Upon returning to New York, she opened a supper club in White Plains, New York with three friends from the Navy, although the restaurant business did not suit her and she soon sold her share of the company. She rose to become a mutual fund vice-president but quit prior to her gender transition, feeling it was not tenable in the workplace. She also was chairperson of the Hudson Valley chapter of the Ninety-Nines women's aviation organization.

Personal life

Asti married Evangeline Diaz-Perez of Palm Beach, Florida, in 1958. They had four children, one of whom died in childhood. A film titled Flying Solo: A Transgender Widow Fights Discrimination about her life and struggles with Social Security was produced and aired at the 2015 TransReelization event. After having seen the ongoing discrimination against trans people, Asti became more actively involved in LGBT activism throughout her 90s. She worked with her grandson to found the Cloud Dancers Foundation in 2019 in order to ensure there is active advocacy for elderly trans people.

Awards and recognition On July 23, 2020, Asti gave a flight lesson at Riverside Municipal Airport in California at age 99, establishing a new world record for oldest flight instructor.

Death Asti died on March 12, 2021, in San Diego, California, at the home of her daughter, where she had moved during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was 99.