Robert Francis Patterson, a longtime resident of Tarrytown died February 21, 2026 at the age of 97.  

Robert was born in Kingston Jamaica in July 1928 to Major Frank and Estelle Patterson; the youngest of seven children he attended Alpha Boys School and St George’s College in Kingston before entering the Jesuit seminary in Massachusetts where he studied at Boston College as well as Shadowbrook, Weston and Harvard for twelve years in pursuit of religious life. But plans changed and he married Laura Sproule of Newton, MA in 1960 and they lived in Jamaica for several years where he was the Foreign Editor for The Jamaica Gleaner under Mr. Sealy.  

The family moved to Boston and then to Tarrytown NY in 1968. Robert taught at Irvington High School for many years where he also coached tennis and soccer before retiring in 1994. He was a parishioner at Transfiguration Church and involved in the St Vincent DePaul Society for many years. 

He is survived by his three children Tracy and Chris Zimmerman of Charlotte NC, and their daughters Kathleen and Laura, and John and Kathryn Patterson of Ridgewood NJ, and their children Carolyn, Daniel and Jack, and Dr. Francis and Tia Patterson of Midland Park NJ and their seven children, Timothy (Simone), Elizabeth, Madeline, Nicole, Colin, Izaiah, and Elijah; as well as many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife Laura in 1996 and his second wife, Anna McDonough of Tarrytown, in 2006. He was also predeceased by his six siblings Alan, Leslie, Joyce, Ian, Virginia and Joan.

Visitation will be at Coffey Funeral Home on Friday from 3pm to 7pm.  His Funeral Mass will be at Transfiguration Church on Saturday at 10:00 followed by interment in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.