Francis Whiting Hatch Jr. (May 6, 1925 – April 8, 2010) was a Massachusetts politician, news reporter, insurance company executive, and advocate for the arts and the environment.
Political career
Hatch served as member of the
Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...
Board of Aldermen
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...
from 1957 to 1963 and the
Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963–1979. As a state representative, Hatch authored the Hatch Act,
Massachusetts' landmark wetlands protection law, in 1965. From 1971–1979 he served as the House Minority Leader.
In 1969, Hatch ran in the special election in
Massachusetts's 6th congressional district. He lost the
Republican nomination to state Senator
William L. Saltonstall, who then lost the general election to
Michael J. Harrington
Michael Joseph "Mike" Harrington (born September 2, 1936) is an American politician, lawyer and a former U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.
Life and career
Harrington is the son of former State Senator, Salem mayor, and judge Joseph B. H ...
.
In
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
, Hatch was the Republican nominee for
Governor of Massachusetts. He lost the election to
Democratic Party nominee
Edward J. King
Edward Joseph King (May 11, 1925 – September 18, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 66th Governor of Massachusetts from 1979 to 1983. A member of the Democratic Party until 1985, he then became a member of the Republican ...
, who had defeated incumbent Governor
Michael Dukakis in the
Democratic Primary. Given that Hatch was a liberal Republican, as compared to the conservative King was, many members of the Democratic Party endorsed Hatch instead of King (who, in turn, was supported by more Republicans).
Arts advocacy
For more than 30 years, Hatch served on the board of directors of the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. At one point he was chairman of the museum's Second Century Fund. In honor of Hatch, the museum has held a "Frank Hatch Free Day," offering the public free admission to the museum, every year since 2006. Initially held on
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
, Frank Hatch Free Day was moved to
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
in 2013 to enable visitors to enjoy the museum's gardens and other exterior spaces in warmer weather.
Death
Hatch died of a
bacterial infection at his
Back Bay home in
Boston on April 8, 2010. He was 84.
Boston.com, New England in Brief, April 9, 2010
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatch Jr., Francis W.
Harvard College alumni
People from Beverly, Massachusetts
1925 births
2010 deaths
Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Politicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts