Horace Bernton

Dr. Horace "Bud" Bernton, a Maryland physician who worked to create a more inclusive and humane healthcare system, died June 12, 2025 at the age of 99.
Born in Washington, DC on June 10, 1926, Bud followed his father, physician Harry Saul Bernton, into medicine. After graduating from Harvard in 1947, he attended Georgetown University School of Medicine and went on to practice internal medicine in Bethesda, MD for 35 years, in an era when weekend hospital rounds and frequent "night-calls" were still routine.
From early in his career, Bud sought to make health care available to more people. He was described by a colleague as a tenacious activist who identified needs, came up with solutions and then dedicated tremendous effort – networking with people from all over the healthcare system, locally and nationally – to bring about change.
In the 1970's, he worked through the Montgomery County Medical Society to establish a pioneering patient referral system that offered doctors new business – but only if they also agreed to accept uninsured low-income residents.
He also was a founding board member of a physician-led non-profit organization that offered pre-paid medical care. It eventually evolved into a for-profit organization that became publicly traded, and was the second-largest health plan in the Washington area when acquired by United Healthcare in 2003. Bud came to believe that such organizations could make healthcare more affordable, but they did not meet the needs of the indigent and working poor. He had searched for new ways to help these people, and in 1993, he was a founding board member of the Montgomery County Primary Care Coalition, a nonprofit which to this day provides a range of services for people who are uninsured or underinsured and supports the county's safe-net clinics. He later sought to improve access to these services in Collier County, Florida, where he resided for much of his retirement. He contributed actively to such efforts well past the age of 90.
When Bud was 13 years old, he met a girl, Connie Tashof, at a party. He never forgot that encounter, and more than a decade later, while attending medical school, he married her. Bud had a motorboat he loved to take fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. He christened it "The Other Woman.' But there was never any doubt about his life-long love for Connie. They were married for 66 years, raising three boys as Connie developed her own career path in promoting healthy lifestyles. In their later years, they traveled widely in the United States and around the world. They were separated by Connie's passing on December 11, 2016 at the age of 90.
For both Bud and Connie, friends and family were the greatest riches the world had to offer. Bud is survived by his three sons and their wives: Dr. Edward and Alice Bernton, of Washington, DC; Dr. John Tashof and Sharon Bernton of Denver, CO; and Hal and Ann Bernton of Portland, OR. He is also survived by six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Bud resided in Naples, Florida in retirement. He spent the last year of his life in Bethesda. There, he passed away a little more than 24 hours after his 99th birthday.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday June 29 at Temple Sinai. Memorial contributions may be made to the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland and the Community Foundation of Collier County, Florida.