They were friends beyond the Thompson connection. Robbie's first job was at Highlands along with Jeff. He was excited about supervising and spent his first day with a shovel in his hand. I learnt last week-end that Trent Jones was known for getting jobs and having his guys build them under his direction. Les Furbor (Canadian note for you) is among many of his former staff. I suspect that with as muh as he had going on and Robbie living less than an hour, the two working together made sence. Robbie was very well liked in the ASGCA.
When Rees's office renovated London Hunt, they felt it was important to put a little more Trent Jones back in the architecture.