Roy Patterson, a former dean of the Medical School and a leading allergy researcher, died Sunday of complications from fluid in the brain. He was 75.

Lewis Landsberg, who succeeded him as the dean of the Medical School, praised Patterson for making important contributions to modern medicine.

“He built a modern department of medicine here,” Landsberg said. “(He built) a department that had a disciplined and robust practice plan and clinical enterprise and provided a foundation for expanding the research program.”

In addition to his academic contributions, Patterson was loyal to his colleagues, Landsberg said.

“He had a high sense of integrity, intelligence and a wonderful, dry humor,” Landsberg said. “He was an interesting, remarkable man in many ways.”

Patterson, a professor emeritus who still worked from home, graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Medical School. He began his academic career there in 1959 after spending eight years as an intern, resident and fellow at the University of Michigan Hospital.

Patterson joined the faculty of the NU Medical School in 1960 and became the chief of the school’s allergy-immunology division, which he led until he retired. During that time he trained 118 allergists, some of whom now serve as chairmen of medicine and faculty in hospitals around the world.

He also discovered the first U.S. case of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, a disease resembling asthma, and developed techniques that are now central to the diagnosis of allergic disease.

Patterson received five U.S. patents and was working on research that might have led to a sixth. He also was working on a book about immunology with a fellow physician. During his life he edited four medical textbooks, including “Patterson’s Allergic Diseases,” which is now in its sixth edition as a teaching text.

Despite the multitude of awards he received during his career, his wife, Elaine Patterson, said the most important reward for him was working with his patients.

“Patient care and success in treating cases … was more important to him than any of the awards that he won,” Patterson said.

Patterson received an operation for hydrocephalus in December 2000.

He is survived by his wife, who lives in Wilmette, and one son, David. He is preceded in death by a daughter, Kathleen Appel, and a son, Tom.

NU will hold a memorial service for Patterson at noon Friday in Alice Millar Chapel.