Robert Daniel Pugatch (1945 - 2023)

Robert Daniel Pugatch M.D. died peacefully at his home in Lutherville, MD on November 29, 2023 at 77 years of age.

Bob was one of Samuel and Sylvia Pugatch’s four children, born on December 14, 1945 in Brooklyn, NY. A beloved husband to Karen Elizabeth Pugatch for the past 34 years, he was the proud father of six boys, “Papa” of ten adoring grandchildren, and a venerated physician, teacher, and mentor to scores of medical students in the field of Radiology over the course of a storied and decades-long career. For so many others, he was a comforting and reassuring guide in times of health scares, holding hands and guiding countless friends and family members through the medical system. He was given many awards for his work in medicine throughout his lifetime, but none were more meaningful to him than those that recognized his teaching.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, he credited a thank you note his father forced him to write as the reason he was admitted to medical school at George Washington University. His career in medicine began in Boston, MA at Tufts University and then the Veterans Administration Hospital. He would later become Director of Thoracic Radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. From 1998 to 2023, he was a Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine and Vice Chairman of Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “Dr. P,” as he was known to his residents, was fond of stating, “you can’t eat prestige.” True to form, he was on call reading chest films the weekend before his passing. He took immense joy from his profession and never understood the concept of retirement, always intending to work until he died.

Despite being a highly sought-after lecturer, publishing more than 60 studies on chest radiology, and winning countless awards for teaching and medicine, nothing made him happier than family and home. When he and Karen purchased an old bed and breakfast to be their Maryland homestead, they transformed the property into an oasis of daffodils, tulips, roses, and hostas. He loved to host parties, hiring full petting zoos and face painters for the kids. His basement train room provided hours of entertainment to his grandchildren and kept his own energies in check, with detailed models made by hand and coal-powered freight trains steaming into mountain tunnels. There was always, he would say, plenty of room at the inn.

Bob was always a devoted father, and when not performing a biopsy, he stood on the sidelines of many a youth soccer and little league game, and applauded high school drama performances. He coached the Flying Guards recreation league men’s basketball team, and occasionally played (against medical advice). He shared season tickets to the Celtics in the old Boston Garden (Section 108, Row E, Seats 3 and 4) and made Boston and Baltimore sports fans of his children. Martha’s Vineyard and Cape May were cherished vacation spots, but show him a hotel with a pool, room service, and a robe within 100 miles and there’s a good chance he’d book a weekend.

On a perfect Spring afternoon in Baltimore County, you would likely find him in the gazebo, or by the firepit on the back patio, having returned from a morning drive with the top down through horse country in his prized BMW convertible. He’d have checked and tuned his mood to the water level at the Loch Raven Reservoir, and stopped at a local farmstand to stock up on berries. His other loves, hobbies and habits included: a perfectly ripe tomato, flowers, a good rainstorm, a bagel with lox and whitefish, leaf-blowing, a nice Jewish deli, gardening, winning the 1-4-6 trifecta box, railroads, a suntan, impulse trips, the car wash, sneaker shopping with his grandchildren, and slipping you a hundred bucks as he dropped you at the airport.

He is survived by his wife Karen, his children Jason, Eric, Adam, Silas, Sam and Josh, their spouses and partners Candace, Jamie, Preeti, Kelsey, his grandchildren Sasha, Braidey, Alex, Kinsley, Emma, Caleb, Millie, Parker, Sylvie and Sean, his sister Nancy Haeberle and brother Lenny Pugatch. He lived life as fully as one can imagine and will be deeply missed and remembered by so many. 

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