SORRENTO — Investigators on Monday continued to look into a Saturday evening accident that claimed the life of a retired doctor who practiced in Bangor for almost 20 years.

Dr. John McGinn, 62, formerly of Bangor and a summer resident of Bar Harbor, died accidentally as he was attempting to board his sailboat from a dinghy on Saturday evening, according to Marine Patrol officers.

McGinn had fallen from the dinghy and may have struck his head on the sailboat, falling into the water unconscious, officers reported.

Ambulance attendants performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene and en route to the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth. McGinn was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The cause of death had not been determined Monday afternoon.

McGinn graduated from Bangor High School in 1946 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1951. He received a master’s degree at Boston University in 1954, and a Doctor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in 1957.

He practiced orthopedic medicine from his office on French Street in Bangor for many years, working on staff at Eastern Maine Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital.

Dr. Jack Adams, president of staff at EMMC and also an orthopedic surgeon, said Monday he was shocked and saddened by McGinn’s death.

Adams said McGinn was the first doctor in the community to take an active interest in pediatric orthopedics. That interest took him to Northern Maine where he visited and worked at many clinics for crippled children, said Adams.

“He was the one who really opened up that particular area of medicine in this area,” said Adams.

Dr. McGinn also was credited with performing the first total hip replacement in Bangor, Adams said.

“That was new technology 18 or 20 years ago, and it was pioneered in this community by him,” he said.

McGinn served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and the European Theatre of Operations and in Korea.

He was a former member of the board of directors of Key Bank in Bangor and was an avid sailor.

McGinn retired from his practice in 1984. He wintered in Florida, but continued to summer at Bar Harbor, and often visited his friends and colleagues in Bangor.

“His death was a great shock. He spent summers in Maine and appeared to be in perfect health and really enjoying his retirement,” Adams said.

Tragedy struck McGinn’s family in 1966 when his 2-year-old son, John Pierce, drown in the family’s swimming pool in Orrington. Dr. McGinn found the child face down in the pool and gave him CPR, but the child died several hours later.

His son’s death was the second ordeal to befall the McGinn family that year. Several months earlier McGinn’s wife, Lynn, and their son were held hostage in their home for several hours. The intruder later abducted Mrs. McGinn in the family car and held her at gunpoint for 22 hours before releasing her, unharmed, 60 miles away. The kidnapper was captured and arrested.