William Roy Breg Jr.

W. Roy Breg, Jr., Professor Emeritus at Yale School of Medicine, an accomplished scientist and a loving and beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away peacefully on Nov. 26, 2020 at the age of 97. He had been a resident of Southbury, CT, for 64 years. Roy was predeceased by his wife, Margaret (Meston) Breg.

Roy was born in Arlington, TX, the son of William Roy Breg, Sr. and Lonnie (Henry) Breg. He grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and attended Union College in Schenectady, NY. Roy graduated from Yale School of Medicine in 1947. It was at Yale that he met his wife, Margaret, then studying nursing, with whom he would be married for 69 years.

After medical school, Roy was an officer in the U.S. Army; for part of that time, he was deployed to Japan during the Korean War. He achieved the rank of major. In Japan he continued his lifelong hobby, photography, chronicling many scenes of everyday life in Japan.

In 1954, he and his family moved to Southbury, CT,  where he worked as a pediatrician, caring for the residents of Southbury Training School. In order to better understand the residents’ health issues, Roy began studying new developments in human genetics. Research he carried out in the lab he built himself at the Training School led to innovations in how genetic research and medicine were practiced. He later became a professor in the genetics and pediatrics departments at Yale Medical School where he made more scientific discoveries, helping to improve our understanding of human illnesses.

Roy’s curiosity and drive to self-teach fostered many hobbies. He loved photography from the age of seven when he was given his first camera and read constantly about the subject, building a dark room in his home to develop his photos and framing them in his basement workshop. With his large collection of cameras, he enjoyed photographing trains and train stations, and the natural landscapes and barns of Southbury, chronicling its changes over many years and sharing them with the town through church fairs and the public library.

Another important connection to his community was through his church. Roy and Margaret were valued members of Southbury’s United Church of Christ, where Roy sang in the choir for over fifty years.

Roy was also an avid train enthusiast. He collected countless models of locomotives and passenger cars, particularly of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He also built model railroad layouts. Roy enjoyed travelling with his family, visiting and taking photographs at many of North America’s national parks. Gardening was another one of his interests; he grew many of the shrubs that graced his family’s properties in Southbury. Though most of their children moved away from the area, Roy and Margaret hosted them every year at the close of the summer and on Christmas when a model train always ran around the edge of the Christmas tree.

Roy was predeceased by his loving wife, Margaret. He is survived by four children: Elizabeth (Betsy) Masson and her husband Paul of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, William and his wife Noël of Watertown, CT, Daniel of Sacramento, CA and David and his partner Kathleen McCarthy of Baltimore, MD; three grandsons: Robert (and his wife Laura), Nathaniel and Alexander; and two great-grandchildren: Oliver and Alice. He is also survived by his brother-in-law Forbes Meston, several nieces, nephew and cousins. He was predeceased by his older sister, Frances Marsden and her husband Bob, and his sister-in-law, Patricia Meston.

The family wishes to thank Kris Lawlor of Watertown for her many years of devoted care of Roy and Margaret, as well as the staff of The Hearth at Southbury and the Watertown Convalarium, Roy’s home for the last two years, for their kind and loyal care.

A full celebration of Roy’s life is postponed until safe travel is possible.

Donations in Dr. Breg’s memory may be made to the Bent of the River Audubon Center at 185 East Flat Hill Road Southbury, CT 06488, bentoftheriver.audubon.org.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of William Roy Breg Jr., please visit our floral store.