Thomas Lubin died of pulmonary disease at age 59 on April 28, at his home in Edgartown.

Born in Boston and raised in Lexington, Mr. Lubin graduated in 1967 from Philips Exeter Academy, and in 1971 from Harvard College, where he majored in biology. At college, he often drove a van, or rode a motorcycle, and was always accompanied by a dog. After Harvard, he received a degree from Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville, Tenn., where he also learned to fly gliders and powered aircraft. He began his career as a physician at a hospital in Providence, R.I.

During his childhood, Tom and his family spent many summers in Woods Hole. His father did research at the Marine Biological Laboratory, and Tom went to the Children’s Science School, where he developed an early love for science and for boats, and a fascination with the oceans that began with the enchantments of Eel Pond and a trip to Boston that he took at the age of seven along with his eight-year-old brother Adam, on the Oceanographic Institute’s research vessel, the Atlantis, as guests of the ship’s captain, Scott Bray. After his residency in Providence, he was glad to return to Woods Hole. He bought and improved a home on Quissett avenue and worked in the emergency room at Falmouth Hospital and later at a clinic in South Dartmouth.

Never much interested in forms or formalities, he often provided free medical care to people who needed it. It was not unusual for an injured fisherman to have a harpoon removed and get sewn up on Tom’s living room carpet in the middle of the night and then, the same night, he might fix his patient’s car and take him flying at dawn to watch humpback whales from the air. This generosity and originality earned him many enduring friendships. For a time, he was a doctor to students at the Penikese Island School, and to the residents of Cuttyhunk. He worked as a doctor on cruise ships and on the training voyages — including some to South America — of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He received a certificate in the treatment of medical conditions related to diving, another activity he enjoyed.

Many of his patients have testified that he was an unusually keen and perceptive diagnostician. Not a few say that they owe their lives to Dr. Lubin or, as many on the Vineyard knew him, “Doc.”

Tom was married twice, first to Sarah Saltonstall of Martha’s Vineyard, and then, for more than a decade, to Susan Child of Boston, whose family had roots in Chappaquiddick. After their marriage, Tom and Susan moved to Martha’s Vineyard, where he opened a solo practice in Edgartown, and they adopted a daughter, Lily, from China. Tom kept his small red airplane at the Katama airfield, and flying joined fishing and boating as a favorite activity. As a pilot, he became a member of the New England Environmental Police, spotting and reporting whales stranded in Cape Cod Bay, or abandoned baby seals.

In 2003, a year-long treatment with interferon for hepatitis C virus, which he had contracted from a patient many decades earlier while working as an emergency room physician, not only failed to eliminate the virus but also had catastrophic effects on Tom’s health, life and career. It permanently weakened his immune system, making him extremely susceptible to infection, and also led to impaired pulmonary function. This illness was especially difficult to endure because, from his days as a wrestler at Exeter, he always had exceptional physical strength and stamina.

Although he was often weak and in pain during the last few years of his life, he found ways to remain mentally active, and took pleasure in his daily routine. When he and Susan divorced, Lily went to live with Amy and Doug Reece of Vineyard Haven. Tom saw her as often as he could and always was cheered by these visits. Recently, Lily won the Martha’s Vineyard spelling bee, and her father took great pride in this feat.

He also was able to continue his studies of moths, butterflies and other insects, and he provided beautifully mounted specimens to many friends. He would go birdwatching in Katama, by himself or sometimes with others to whom he wished to introduce its delights. He spent much time in the Edgartown library, where he would not only read, but transfer to his iPod and computer many programs about science to listen to or to watch at home later. Just recently, he had started a blog about science that he hoped might reach a wide audience.

Tom helped and saved many patients, entertained many friends, and lived a life dense with experience. He is survived by his daughter Lily, his parents, Martin and Dorothy of Hanover, N.H.; his brothers, Peter and John of Lexington, Mass., and Adam, of Norwich, Vt.