Dr. Robert B. Johnston III, a retired pediatrician and author who was an inveterate photographer, dies

Dr. Robert B. Johnston III, a retired York Hospital pediatrician, swimmer and an accomplished wildlife and flower photographer, died July 22 from renal cell cancer and complications of dementia at his Lutherville home. He was 86.

Dr. Johnston, son of Robert B. Johnston Jr., who sold women’s apparel, and Miriam S. Johnston, a homemaker, was born in raised in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

After graduating from Bradford High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology in 1958 from Cornell University.

Dr. Johnston served in the Army Medical Corps from 1958 to 1960 at Fort Bliss, Texas, when he was discharged with the rank of lieutenant. He remained a reservist until 1965.

He obtained his medical degree in 1964 from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed an internship in 1965 in pediatrics at the University of Florida Medical Center in Jacksonville, followed by a residency in 1967 at Buffalo Children’s Center Hospital in Buffalo, New York.

Dr. Johnston also completed a fellowship in child development and neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

From 1973 to 1986, Dr. Johnston was the first coordinator of training at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. He also served as assistant dean of the B.A.-M.D. Programs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1977 to 1983.

“Dr. Bob,” as he was known, joined the staff of what is now WellSpan York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania in 1983 as a pediatrician, while also continuing to be an assistant professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins.

He wrote “Attention Deficits, Learning Disabilities, and Ritalin” and “Learning Disabilities and Myth,” both of which were published in 1987.

Dr. Johnston retired from the practice of medicine in 2003.

In 1990, he married Bonnie R. Ross, an administrative assistant. They shared an interest in swimming which they enjoyed in Baltimore and at Delray Beach, Florida, where they had a second home.

In 1992, Dr. Johnston earned first place in the National Master’s Swimming Championship.

Dr. Johnston combined his love of world travel with photography. He “saw different parts of the world through his heart and lens: wildlife in Africa, lavender fields in France, and the Tuscan light on poppy fields,” according to a biographical profile submitted by his family.

An accomplished photographer whose work was featured in various shows, Dr. Johnston’s most recent photography project was the study of magnolias in all stages of bloom, family members said.

“Bob was an incredible photographer who looked at the world through his own lens, and he loved showing his photography,” said Cheryl Bastinelli, a longtime Lutherville neighbor and friend. “He was just an incredible and interesting guy.”

He had a passion for ice cream and chocolate, family members said, and many of his neighbors paid him in chocolate to take photos of their children.

Dr. Johnston was also known for his quick wit and an ability for telling jokes.

“He had an incredible sense of humor. He’d start to tell a joke and then would start laughing in the middle of it which would get a roomful of people roaring. It was hysterical,” said Ms. Bastinelli.

She said Dr. Johnston often found himself at the center of his wife’s girlfriends, waiting for the appropriate moment to get a word in edgewise.

“We’d all be talking and then he’d raise his hand and say, ‘I’ve have something to say, but I had to wait so long that I’ve forgotten what it was,’ ” Ms. Bastinelli said with a laugh.

“Bob’s legacy is that he was a friend to all whom he came in touch with,” she said.

A viewing will be held from 10 to 11:15 a.m. Aug. 5 which will be followed by a brief service at the Ruck Towson Funeral Home, 1050 York Road.

On addition to his wife of 33 years, Dr. Johnson is survived by a daughter, Laura Muggleton of The Netherlands; two stepsons, Dannie Ross of Lutherville and Stan Ross of Wellington, Florida; and seven grandchildren. A son, Bobby Johnston, died in 2006. An earlier marriage ended in divorce.