KNOX — A Hilltowner drowned earlier this week at his camp in Roseboom, N.Y.

On Monday, Sept. 6, Richard Rue, 51, of Knox, was fishing on Belvedere Lake when his equipment became tangled on some debris, according to a release from the Otsego County Sheriff’s Office.

Rue, a longtime highway worker, is remembered as a laid-back man who loved camping, fishing, and traveling with his family.

Rue was fishing alone on the lake, in a small, aluminum boat, the release says. He was observed leaving the dock area around 7 a.m. by another fisherman, and the boat was found unattended at about 9 a.m. The park manager and some campers eventually found Rue’s body in the water, about 30 feet from the shore, in water close to 15 feet deep. He was dead at the scene.

A 9-1-1 call brought the sheriff’s department and the Cherry Valley Fire Department to the scene. Rue was not wearing a life jacket, the release says, nor were there any personal flotation devices on the boat.