Stanley Craig Hatch

1934 - 2023

Stanley Craig Hatch was born January 16,1934 in Logan, Utah, to Adrian W. Hatch and Marjorie W. Hatch. He passed on September 27, 2023, at his home in Santa Barbara, California due to complications from Guillain-Barre` syndrome.

Stan attended Utah State University, where he graduated with honors. His major was Political Science, and his minors were in English, History and Military Science. At Utah State, he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity, edited the student newspaper and was a contributor to the University's literary and humor magazine. He was the school's Rhodes Scholar nominee in 1954 and he did sports announcing for the Intermountain radio network, covering college football and basketball games. He received a National Scholarship to Harvard Law School in 1955, graduating with the class of 1958.

After graduating from law school, he did a tour of duty with the United States Air Force as a Staff Judge Advocate in Nova Scotia, after which he took a one-year hiatus, traveling around the world much of that time. Eventually he landed in Santa Barbara, CA in 1962.

Initially, his plan out of Law School was to join the U.S. Foreign Service, but an extended federal employment freeze changed his plan. He moved to Santa Barbara, serving as the Deputy County Counsel for three years, during which time he acted as the County's Legislative Advocate in Sacramento and litigated his favorite case, which resulted in the permanent removal of several hundred billboards from Santa Barbara County's scenic highways. By the time the Foreign Service offer opened back up, he turned it down, having been smitten by Santa Barbara.

He was a Chair of the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee in the 1960's and served for a time on the Steering Committee of the Executive Committee of the California State Central Committee. He was a delegate to the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention pledged to Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated prior to the Convention. He watched what was happening outside the walls of the convention on a small portable TV he had brought with him, sharing the news with other delegates seated near him, including Shirley McClaine. In these activities he followed in the footsteps of his late father, Adrian W. Hatch, who was a member of the Utah State Legislature during World War II, and his mother, the late Marjorie Webb Hatch, also ran for a legislative seat in Utah in the 1960's.

He opened his own law office in 1965 and in 1968 joined Gerald Parent in forming the law firm of Hatch & Parent, which grew over the years to become Santa Barbara's largest law office, with over 40 lawyers in offices located throughout California.

Over the years, his practice focused on water law. He successfully represented the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District in proceedings involving the relative rights of the participants in the Cachuma Project and the water users located downstream from that Project. The decision established the priority of his client's water rights in the Santa Ynez River system.

Mr. Hatch served as a Director and Chair of the Board of the Fielding Graduate University, which later honored him as a Lifetime Fellow of the University. He is a former Director of the Santa Barbara Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Barbara County Bar Association. The Santa Barbara Association of Realtors honored him with its Distinguished Community Service Award in 1991 for his work on the State Water Project. He and his wife Betty were honored by Life Chronicles with the "Father Virgil Remarkable Life Award."

As he wound down his involvement in his law practice, he became a member of the Board of Directors of Direct Relief International in 2003, where he served for seven years, two and one-half of which were as Chairman. He continued as Chair of the Direct Relief Foundation and of Direct Relief International South Africa, both of which he was influential in founding. He was instrumental in the acquisition and the implementation of state-of-the-art enterprise resource planning software that vastly increased DRI's capacity, its analytical abilities, and its inventory controls. He was proud to have been able to introduce Direct Relief to a major international generic drug manufacturer, a contact they had been lacking. Direct Relief's subsequent growth trajectory was dramatic during his board tenure as he watched it grow from an organization serving just under 10 million people and dealing with $20 million worth of medical resources per year prior to the turn of the century, to one handling over $2 billion worth of medical resources in 2022. He encouraged and supported the extension of Direct Relief's benefits to the uninsured in the United States in a new and growing program called Direct Relief USA, which distributes prescription medications to patients at over 1,000 free and community clinics located in all 50 states. He was very involved in the planning and construction of the new, significantly larger warehouse complex near the Santa Barbara Airport and, along with his wife, Betty, became one of its major financial contributors. The large public meeting room, Hatch Hall, was named for them. In recent years, because of its increased capacity, Direct Relief has been on the Forbes list of the largest charities in the United States. It is currently shown as fifth largest at $1.93 billion and is the only charity in the top 10 listed as having both a 100% fundraising efficiency and charitable commitment. He was very proud of his relationship and association with Direct Relief, serving as Chair Emeritus until his death.

An avid skier for over 70 years, he skied at resorts throughout the U.S. and Europe. After sampling helicopter skiing in Canada, he researched the feasibility of opening a heli-skiing operation at Mineral King, in the Southern Sierras, which he abandoned when it turned out to be avalanche prone and snow challenged. He enjoyed many sports over the years. He was a badminton champion in college, played tennis, for over 35 years, was a yoga practitioner, which he felt enabled him to cycle 20-30 miles per week and play full-court basketball well into his mid-eighties. He was known for his sense of humor, regaling his bike group at their weekly encounters with an extensive collection of jokes, some of which were published in a book, "Moments of Mirth" celebrating his 80th birthday. He wrote an unpublished novel, Mantra and was an amateur artist, who filled books full of sketches portraying his extensive travels (he visited over 60 countries world-wide). As a private pilot, he flew his Cessna 182 throughout Mexico and the Western U.S. He wrote and published his memoirs, "2020 Hindsight, Reflections in the Rearview Mirror of Stanley C. Hatch, Esq. in 2021.

He married Anne Lorraine Burnham, in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1958 and they had two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1981.

He married Betty Cleveland Mazzetti in 1982 in Santa Barbara, California. Thereafter, the two of them lived the happiest, most satisfying, and in many ways the most productive, years of their lives. They traveled extensively throughout the world on matters relating to Betty's business, an international modeling agency and school. He was quoted as saying about his wife: "The best thing I ever did in this life, was to find and marry Betty, a woman wise beyond her years. I learned to pay close attention to her calm and wisdom. Living with her has been both an honor and a constant, unremitting pleasure. We grew together in every sense of the word. She is truly the love of my life." Their 41-year marriage was an inspiration to all who knew them.

Stanley Hatch is survived by his wife, Betty, by his daughter, Christine Hatch Santi, and his two grandsons, Lucas and Alex Santi, his son, Kenneth Hatch, stepson, Robert Mazzetti and his wife Merrie Morris-Mazzetti and two step-grandchildren, Siena and Cordell Mazzetti; his sister, Elaine Hatch Thomas, her husband Terry, and their children, Tiffany Thomas, Michelle Wieland, and children Aly and Axel, and Michael Thomas, his wife Kendra and son Bodhi; and by his nephew Graham Hatch, and wife Brenda, and niece, Jennifer Hatch, and her spouse Sue, the children of his brother Robert Hatch. He was preceded in death by his parents, Adrian W. Hatch and Marjorie W. Hatch, his brother Robert A. Hatch and stepson Mark Mazzetti.

In 2021 Mr. Hatch create a journalism scholarship at USU in honor of his late brother, Robert A. Hatch, USU class of '52, and the "rescue" scholarship in the College of Humanities.

He has also been a generous contributor to the Sunshine Terrace Foundation which his father Adrian Hatch, and his uncle, Boyd Hatch founded in 1953.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in honor of Stan to Sunshine Terrace Foundation.