enlarge
Courtesy photoTOPSHAM — He gave away hundreds of acres of land and millions of dollars to charitable causes during his lifetime, and in return only asked for anonymity.
Only a few Mainers who had the chance to work with Richard L. Hatch knew about his behind-the-scenes philanthropy work.
Hatch died Wednesday in Topsham at the home of Gail and Thomas Rainey, the couple he had been living with for the past five years. He was 91.
It wasn't until three years ago, when Hatch donated one of the largest undeveloped tracts of coastal land in Maine to the Nature Conservancy, that his name began to surface publicly.
Even then, he asked that his identity be kept confidential, which it was – at least by the Nature Conservancy.
"This is an act of staggering generosity," Mike Tetreault, the Maine chapter's executive director, was quoted as saying during an October 2006 news conference at the Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg.
Tetreault was referring to the 1,910-acre Basin Preserve in Phippsburg, a property that included forest lands, a mountain, several ridges, a tidal inlet and an island.
Nature Conservancy officials estimated the property's market value at between $10 million and $14 million.
Basin Preserve was the last and one of the most significant gifts that Hatch would ever make.
Hatch was born in New York City, the son of Harold Hatch and Margaret Milliken Hatch.
At the time of the Phippsburg donation, town property records revealed that Hatch owned the 1,900 acres. His ownership of the property was common knowledge in Phippsburg.
Bob Cummings, past president of the Phippsburg Land Trust, said Hatch was known to have gone door to door in the 1940s and 1950s asking property owners if they wanted to sell their land to him.
Cummings just spent the last several months overseeing construction of a 7-mile-long trail that connects the Basin Preserve lands to other town conservation areas.
"It's obvious to me that Hatch is one of the greatest philanthropists there ever was in Maine," Cummings said. "What he did here in Phippsburg was a marvelous thing."
Cummings said he used to wonder what would have happened if Mr. Hatch had decided to develop housing on the 1,900 acres he owned.
"If he had developed that land, it would have changed the character of this town forever. It would have been a disaster," Cummings said.
In 2007, Hatch was named Maine Philanthropist of the Year by the Northern New England Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
The award is given to an individual who makes an extraordinary difference in the lives of the people of Maine, said Susan Doliner, a member of the association.
Doliner is also the associate vice president for development at Maine Medical Center. Doliner knew of Hatch because he and his wife, Rakia I. Hatch, who died in 2005, donated more than $1 million toward the hospital's maternity ward.
As a result, the birthing wing is housed in Maine Medical Center's Hatch Pavilion – named after the Hatches.
In the early 1980s, Bob Demont was working as fundraising consultant for the hospital.
"Mr. Hatch contacted the medical center and said he wanted to provide support for the maternity wing. It was completely unsolicited and out of the blue," Demont recalled.
The couple also donated generously to Bowdoin College, which named the Hatch Science Library after them, as well as Yale University, Duke University and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Through the Margaret Milliken Hatch Charitable Trust, they supported Maine Public Broadcasting for years.
Hatch and his wife lived in Cundy's Harbor – a village of Harpswell – for more than 55 years. There, they developed housing in the East and West Point neighborhoods.
Hatch's longtime attorney and friend, Merton Henry of Scarborough, said he met him through former Maine Sen....
Reader comments
Click here to view or add comments on this story
Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy form