Francis Whiting Hatch Jr. (May 6, 1925 – April 8, 2010) was an American politician, news reporter, insurance company executive, and advocate for the arts and the environment from the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Political career

Hatch served as member of the

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 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 Sho ...

Board of Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands ( wethouder) and Belgium ( schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking mem ...

from 1957 to 1963 and the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

from 1963–1979. As a state representative, Hatch authored the Hatch Act,

' 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 Massachusetts's 6th congressional district is located in northeastern Massachusetts. It contains almost all of Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, including the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore and Cape Ann and excluding the Merrim ...

. He lost the Republican nomination to state Senator William L. Saltonstall, who then lost the general election to Michael J. Harrington. 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 ...

, Hatch was the Republican nominee for

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

. He lost the election to Democratic Party nominee Edward J. King, who had defeated incumbent Governor

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

in the

Democratic Primary This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Un ...

. 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 The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was found ...

. 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 In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

, Frank Hatch Free Day was moved to

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

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 Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and many are beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of t ...

at his

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...

home in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

on April 8, 2010. He was 84.Boston.com, New England in Brief, April 9, 2010
/ref>

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 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court