In Memoriam: Keiko McDonald

Keiko McDonald taught a variety of classes at Pitt, including Introduction to Japanese… Keiko McDonald taught a variety of classes at Pitt, including Introduction to Japanese Literature, Westerns and Samurai Films, Japanese Society and Culture through Cinema, Fourth Year Japanese and Japanese Literature and the West. This semester, however, she was on sabbatical leave. Keiko, as she liked her students to call her, died doing what she loved: fishing. The former professor and acting chair of Pitt’s Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures died on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, from renal failure and pulmonary edema resulting from freshwater drowning, said the Indiana County coroner’s office. At the time of her death, McDonald, who was born in Nara, Japan, was in the process of writing two books. She had begun to revise ‘Hiroshi Shimizu: A Forgotten Veteran of Children’s Films,’ and ‘The Woman Behind the Camera: Japanese Film Directors’ is under contract from the University of Hawaii Press. Throughout her career, McDonald’s students and fellow faculty members praised her strong work ethic, dedication to teaching, warm personality and kindness toward others. ‘She was a superb department adviser for students, showing understanding while maintaining appropriate standards,’ said Pitt professor emeritus J. Thomas Rimer, who worked with McDonald on several projects, including a book called ‘Nara Encounters.’ This book matched photos of Japan’s ancient capital with bits of literary and historical texts. ‘This was her hometown, and she did a remarkable job in locating out-of-the-way photos, sections of novels or stories to be translated, and a number of other aspects of this complicated project,’ said Rimer. ‘She proved herself an ideal colleague.’ Paula Locante, the secretary and administrator of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, said that she worked closely with McDonald last year when McDonald was the acting chair of the department.’ ‘I learned a lot from her about trying to stay calm and organized,’ said Locante. ‘And she’d frequently bring me prizes: flowers, wine and always a T-shirt or scarf or jewelry from Japan.’ Locante added that she especially admired McDonald’s strong dedication, love for her work, ‘no pain, no gain’ motto, cheerfulness, energetic personality and overall radiance. In 1963, McDonald obtained her undergraduate degree in English, with a minor in linguistics, from Osaka University of Foreign Studies in Minoh, Osaka, Japan. She later traveled to Sacramento to complete her master’s degree at the State University of California in 1966 and earned her doctorate degree at the University of Oregon in 1974 after writing a dissertation titled ‘In Search of the Orient: W. B. Yeats and Japanese Tradition.” McDonald received numerous honors for her work. These awards include the Toshiba International Grant in 1999, an honor she held for several years, and the Research-in-Japan grant from Pitt’s Japan Iron and Steel Endowment in 1998. She was also awarded the Tina and David Bellet CAS Teaching Excellence Award in 2002.’ McDonald contributed to nine major publications, four special volumes, four chapters, one liner and more than 40 articles. She was also invited to speak as a guest lecturer at several prestigious international conferences, including ‘The Agony of Eldercare: Two Japanese Women Directors Look at Old-Age Problem’ at the German Institute of Japanese in Tokyo during June 2007. McDonald was also invited to speak at several educational institutions in the United States, Canada and Japan over the course of her career. ‘Everyone speaks, quite rightly, of her generosity, but in the end I’m most struck by her intellectual generosity,’ said Rimer. ‘She was happy to share what she knew with all of us, and her steady enthusiasm was infectious.’