A University of Pittsburgh professor who described herself as an "avid angler" drowned over the weekend while fishing.

Keiko McDonald, 68, of Bayard Road, Oakland, was on a sabbatical this semester from Pitt, where she taught Japanese literature and cinema.

Mrs. McDonald was fishing in Indiana County Saturday when she apparently fell, struck her head, then slipped into the stream, according to Coroner Michael A. Baker. She died at about 8:56 a.m. Sunday at Indiana Regional Medical Center.

Her husband, Charles, told police his wife had been fishing from a concrete walkway at the Renosky Trout Club in Brush Valley Saturday afternoon when he decided to take a short walk. When he returned, he found his wife face-down in the water and pulled her to land. He called for help about 4:31 p.m.

She was taken to the hospital where her condition deteriorated and she died Sunday morning, the coroner said.

He has ruled the death an accident. No autopsy is planned.

Her husband said she was born in Nara, Japan, and remembered hearing American bombers overhead during World War II. Nara was spared bombing because it was considered the cultural center of Japan, he said.

She was an "avid angler" who had written many articles on fishing for Japanese magazines.

"She used to call her girlfriends up in British Columbia and Alberta and give a talk there and then go fishing. She was a character. She loved to fish and would go to extremes to do so," Mr. McDonald said.

On a Pitt Web site, Mrs. McDonald profiles herself, noting that she had published extensively on the subjects of Japanese cinema and literature and currently was working on a book about Japanese women directors.

She described herself as "an enthusiastic runner" who had completed 33 marathons.

A popular lecturer both in the United States and Japan, she was the recipient of the Tina and David Bellet CAS Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award, three Fulbright Research Fellowships and a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Award.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by the C. Frederick Bowser Funeral Home in Homer City.

First Published: September 15, 2008, 4:00 a.m.