Frederick Robinson McReynolds Deane

Dr. Frederick R. ("Rob") Deane MD, CAPT USN, Retired, age 89, of Grand Rapids passed away on Friday, December 5, 2025, at home with his family.

Rob Deane was born in Grand Rapids, MI on November 20, 1936, the son of Edward M. & Margaret (Robinson) Deane. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1950 at the age of 14 and graduated from East Grand Rapids High School in 1954. He graduated from Amherst College in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, and from Harvard Medical School in 1962. He then did his surgical residency at the University of Michigan before joining the United States Navy in 1964. He remained on active duty in the navy as a flight surgeon until 1988, including serving on the aircraft carriers USS Constellation and USS Kitty Hawk, working to receive his Master of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan, attending the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and serving in the administrations of the Navy Bureau of Medicine in Washington D.C. and the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, VA. In his "spare" time, Rob loved to drive (or more often worked on) his adored Triumph convertible or fly his private plane, a Mooney, call sign N78859. He retired from the Navy and moved back to Grand Rapids in 1988, where he was an extremely active volunteer and sat on the boards of many organizations at the local, state and national levels until 2016 when he turned 80 including: the Alliance for Health, the Military Officer's Association of America, the National Council of World Affairs Organizations, the Retired Officer's Association, the Society of US Naval Flight Surgeons, the Emmet County Lakeshore Association, the Five Mile Creek Community Association, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, the Lower Shore Drive Property Owners Association, the Michigan One-Room Schoolhouse Association, the Office of Services to the Aging, the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan, the Army & Navy Club of Grand Rapids, the Breakfast Club of Grand Rapids, the Kent County Medical Society, the Michigan Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program, the Rotary Club of Grand Rapids, the West Michigan Long Term Care Connection, the Women's City Club of Grand Rapids, the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan.

He was named a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow in 1997 and the 2004 Michigan Senior Citizen of the Year and was the recipient of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Claude Pepper Award in 2006, the Congressional Medal of Merit in 2008 and the Sister Agnes Thiel Award in 2016.

On December 26, 1964, he married Katherine ("Kathy") E. Hoffmann of Southfield, MI, his wife of more than 60 years, who survives him. Also surviving are his son Dr. James R. and Mira (Miller) Deane of Honolulu, HI, his daughter, Heather (Deane) and Bill Strickland of East Grand Rapids, MI, two grandsons Trevor Strickland (Ashe DeDeaux) and Riley Strickland of East Grand Rapids, MI, two granddaughters, Hadley Strickland (Sky Gant) of Indianapolis, IN and Lillieanna Witting (Seth Womacks) of Fenwick, MI, and a niece, Cara Glennon-Olsen of Portland, OR. Also surviving is his lifelong friend, Elise Curtis Meyer of Grand Rapids.

For those who wish, memorials may be made to:

The National Naval Aviation Museum
1750 Radford Blvd.
Pensacola, FL 32508
(850) 452-8450