Francis W. Hatch, Jr.

Francis Whiting "Frank" 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 Board of Aldermen from 1957 to 1963 and the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963–1979.^[1] As a state representative, Hatch authored the Hatch Act, Massachusetts' landmark wetlands protection law, in 1965.^[2] 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 William L. Saltonstall.

In 1978, Hatch was the Republican nominee for Governor of Massachusetts. He lost the election to Democratic Party nominee Edward J. King, who had defeated incumbent Governor Michael Dukakis in the Democratic Primary.

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, Frank Hatch Free Day was moved to Labor Day in 2013 to enable visitors to enjoy the museum's gardens and other exterior spaces in warmer weather.^[3]

Death

Hatch died of a bacterial infection at his Back Bay home in Boston on April 8, 2010. He was 85.^[4]

Family

Hatch was the son of Francis W. Hatch (1897-1975), a Boston businessman, writer, poet, playwright, composer, performer and philanthropist. The elder Hatch's writings appeared in The New Yorker, Down East, The Saturday Evening Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Pilot and other major publications. He was best known for the songs "Some Coward Closed the Old Howard," a humorous paean to Boston's famous vaudeville house The Old Howard, and "Vote Early and Often for Curley," a reelection campaign song for Boston Mayor James Michael Curley.^[5]

References