Correction appended

Yesterday morning at McCoy Natatorium, Penn State professor Michael Rothkopf died doing one of his favorite activities: swimming a mile.

A regular natatorium patron, the 68-year-old supply chain information systems professor appeared to be "just relaxing" -- floating on his back -- when concerned lifeguards tapped him on the shoulder at about 8 a.m. yesterday, said Tom Griffiths, manager of aquatic facilities.

Three student lifeguards and three professional staff members attempted to revive the unresponsive Rothkopf using an automated external defibrillator and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Griffiths said. Rothkopf was pronounced dead at Mount Nittany Medical Center at about 9:15 a.m. His cause of death was unknown by press time yesterday, the hospital's nurse supervisor said.

"To my knowledge, we have never had a catastrophic event of this magnitude happen at this facility," said Bruce English, pool coordinator, adding that this is the first death in the facility since it opened in 1969.

"My wishes and thoughts go out to the patron's family," he said.

For Rothkopf's wife, Laura, a picture taken with the Nittany Lion on Valentine's Day is a fond memory of her husband. The photo, won in a raffle at the Lady Lions' basketball game, captured his winning smile.

"His last request was to have that picture blown up," said Chris Kimker, a family friend. "He was so proud."

Rothkopf joined Penn State in fall 2007 and taught Procurement Auctions and Supply Chain Analysis II this semester.

"Mike was respected by all of his students," Laura Rothkopf said. "He loved Penn State, and he loved his students."

She added that, yesterday, several of his pupils had already arrived at their State College residence to express their condolences.

Mike Hofherr, a spokesman for the Smeal College of Business, said Rothkopf's fellow faculty members were not yet able to comment because many were still learning of his death.

Kimker said Rothkopf was an Audubon Society member and an avid birdwatcher, having just identified his 1,000th bird species. He added that another of Rothkopf's hobbies was to set up personal scholarships for college students.

"He literally personally paid tuition for students who couldn't pay themselves," Kimker said. "That is not an overstatement."

Also a travel enthusiast, Rothkopf had just returned from trips to South Africa and Puerto Rico, Kimker said.

Before working at Penn State, he was a professor at Rutgers University Business School and Center for Operations Research for 19 years.

The physically active senior regularly swam a mile each day, Kimker said.

Griffiths said his lifeguards did all they could to revive Rothkopf until emergency medical staff arrived at the scene; the pool was closed until 9 a.m. He added that two of the three lifeguards had just refreshed their defibrillator training fewer than 12 hours prior to the incident.

"My staff did as perfectly of a job as they could have done," he said.

This article "Prof. dies in McCoy Pool" incorrectly identified Michael Hofherr. He is the information technology manager for the Smeal College of Business.