Katharine Macdonald; Journalist, Political Publicist

Katharine Macdonald, 47, a political publicist and journalist who explained California’s Smog Check program. The daughter of the late actress Eve March, Macdonald was named for her godmother, Katharine Hepburn, and grew up in Hollywood. But she chose a career in public affairs, working first as scheduling assistant for Assembly Speaker Jesse M. Unruh. She later served four years as press secretary to Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. Since 1994, Macdonald had been managing director of the Sacramento office of Hill & Knowlton, a public relations firm. One of her top assignments was to help the California Bureau of Automotive Repair explain the Smog Check II program to motorists. She also worked closely with Mayor Richard Riordan’s office on Los Angeles’ response to the state implementation plan for the Clean Air Act. As a reporter, Macdonald had worked in the Los Angeles bureau of the Washington Post and covered Sacramento for the San Francisco Examiner. On Sunday in Clarksburg, Calif., of lung cancer.