The brother of state Health Director Loretta Fuddy said his sister had no heart problems or pre-existing conditions that would have contributed to her death following a December plane crash off Molokai.
"She was a healthy lady," Lewis Fuddy said Monday. "She handled stress every day as director of the state Department of Health. She solved problems under pressure. She was a very calm person."
A Maui County police spokesman said Loretta Fuddy, 65, died of cardiac arrhythmia because of stress following the Dec. 11 crash into the ocean after takeoff about a half-mile from Kalaupapa.
Cardiac arrhythmia is a disturbance in the normal heartbeat, also called an irregular heartbeat, which can be triggered by stress, among other things.
Fuddy, a 30-year Health Department employee who rose to the top in her final two years, was one of nine people aboard a Makani Kai Air Cessna Grand Caravan that ditched into the water. She was the only passenger to die.
The pilot and all eight passengers made it out of the plane with their life preservers on before it sank 25 minutes later. But they had to float in the ocean until the Coast Guard and Maui County helicopters rescued them.
Lynette Schaefer, Fuddy’s sister, said she would have guessed hypothermia, or a dangerously low body temperature from exposure to cold ocean waters, as the cause of death. But cardiac arrhythmia also makes sense, she said, considering how long her sister was in the open ocean following the crash — an hour and 20 minutes.
In recounting the ill-fated flight, pilot Clyde Kawasaki said Fuddy appeared fine while she was floating in the water with her life vest on, and he was shocked to learn afterward that she didn’t make it.
Richard Schuman, owner of Makani Kai Air, said the fact that Fuddy died after the crash while she was in the water doesn’t make him feel any better.
"She didn’t plan to go swimming that morning," he said. "It’s unfortunate she passed away under those circumstances."
In the water, Fuddy held hands with Health Department Deputy Director Keith Yamamoto as he tried to help her relax, said the Rev. Patrick Killilea, who consoled Yamamoto after the ordeal.
"He recounted how he said he helped Loretta into her life jacket and he held her hand for some time," the Kalaupapa priest said last month. "They were all floating together and she let go, and there was no response from her."
Fuddy — who had been visiting Kalaupapa in her capacity as mayor of Kalawao County, overseeing the settlement of former leprosy patients — was described as "fatally injured" in the preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The crash occurred when the single engine of the 2002 Cessna failed soon after it took off from Molokai and made its turn toward Honolulu.
An autopsy was conducted on Fuddy two days after the crash, but the cause of death was deferred. Her death was determined to be accidental, police said Monday.
Schaefer, a Molokai police chaplain, said she’s still feeling emotional about the loss of her sister — and especially following the recent airing of video of the crash taken by passenger Ferdinand Puentes.
"It’s hard that she’s gone," she said, adding, "People have been so wonderful to our family. We’re grateful for the outpouring of love."
