Dr. Robert Patrick Ferguson, former chief of medicine at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, died of heart failure following a stroke Oct. 22 at Towson Rehabilitation and HealthCare Center. The Lutherville resident was 79.

Born in New York City and raised in Albany, he was the son of Dr. Frank Ferguson, a physician, and his wife, Joan Lonergan Ferguson. A 1964 graduate of Vincentian High School, he earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees at Cornell University, where he played football and baseball.

While attending Cornell, he met his future wife, Diane Marie Strickland, on a blind date. They often attended races at Saratoga Springs.

Dr. Ferguson later worked in rural clinics in Jamaica as part of a Cornell-sponsored program. He and his wife later settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where h

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