Hatch's obituary

The award-winning James Hatch was a Plain Dealer photographer and
supervisor:


news obituary


Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 2:44 PM Updated: Tuesday,
February 28, 2012, 2:50 PM
Grant Segall By Grant Segall



The award-winning James Hatch photographed crimes, swells and an elusive
parakeet during 47 years at The Plain Dealer.

Hatch, 72, died Sunday, Feb. 26, at a hospital in Los Angeles after a
year's struggle with cancer.

"He was a good dresser, he had an ear for things, and he was one of the
top photographers," said Bob Dorksen, retired Plain Dealer photo editor.

Hatch kept antique cameras on his desk and studied the field's rich
history. Dennis Webb, retired news systems director, said, "He had a
vast knowledge of things like midtones and dot gains and the art of
excellent reproduction."

He joined the newspaper at age 18 as a part-time copy boy and retired in
2004 as editorial systems manager. In between, he won many awards,
including first places, from the Ohio News Photographers Association. He
also displayed a photograph in the Cleveland Museum of Art's prestigious
May Show.

Hatch was raised in Lakewood and graduated from Lakewood High School. He
studied accounting at Western Reserve University and architecture at
Kent State University.

He spent his first two years at the newspaper part-time and the next 45
full-time. He worked briefly in the commercial photography department
and mostly in the editorial one.

Hatch broke into print in 1962 with a front page photo of the Westlake
Hotel Fire in Rocky River. He worked the police beat awhile but also
shot many society events and liked dressing for them. With a gift for
inside information, he learned about many unmarked bathrooms in local
country clubs.

In 1965, his shot of the Cleveland skyline made the cover of "People,"
an album by Al Serafini, orchestra leader at the Sahara Motor Hotel on
Euclid Ave.

In 1973, he talked his way into the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
late at night for a deadline shot of a monk parakeet. A worker opened
the cage, and the bird flew out. The worker and Hatch chased it around
the basement, hoping to save it from an uncaged eagle. Hatch finally
netted the fugitive.

He gradually rose to chief photographer and deputy photo editor. He
finished his career overseeing computers that transferred photos from
camera to newsprint.

A young Hatch proposed to Marianne Kovacs, a portrait photographer,
outside the Headliner, a favorite downtown hangout for journalists. Over
the years, the couple lived in North Olmsted, Rocky River and Bay
Village. They lost a daughter, Julie Ann, at age 12. In 2004, Hatch
retired and moved with Marianne to Studio City, Calif., near their
surviving daughter, Char, and her family.

James Alfred Hatch

1939-2011

Survivors: Wife, the former Marianne Kovacs; daughter, Char Hatch Langos
of Los Angeles; and two grandchildren.

Jim Hatch dies

Jim Hatch, the dapper dressing former photographer and Mac systems person, died in Los Angeles this morning, Monday, February 27, 2012. He had been
battling bladder and kidney cancer for about a year, and six months
ago it appeared he was doing much better. But he took a turn for the
worse about a month ago, and was in a lot of discomfort until the end.
Jim's wife, Marianne, will send some additional
information soon.

Two weeks she sent out an email with photos that he was going to start chemo Feb. 12

Jim and Marianne moved to California shortly after retiring from the PD in 2004 or 2005 to be near their daughter.

Jan. 27 luncheon

PD Editorial Retirees & Expatriates
Casual unstructured lunch troupe
Gather for lunch on the last Fridays of January, April, July and October
Spouses and guests always welcome

NEXT LUNCHEON: Noon, Friday, January 27, 2012

PLACE: Carrie Cerino’s Ristorante, 8922 Ridge Road, North Royalton

Order from menu, including Pork Tenderloin Piccata, Parmesan Crusted Tlapia,
Chicken Breast Parmigiana or Eggplant Parigiana (with pasta or potato, salad and rolls),
plus salads or sandwiches. Prices from $8.50 to $10.50

Take I-480 west to Ridge Road exit, south on Ridge past Sprague Road.
The restaurant is on the west side of Ridge and has ample parking.

RSVP by Tuesday, January 24
Janet Beighle French (216) 221-2318 or email jabfr519@sbcglobal.net or
JoAnn Pallant (440) 734-1923 or email japallant@sbcglobal.net

Sportswriter McDermott dies

From the PD


Jack McDermott covered sports for The Plain Dealer and other papers


Published: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 3:01 PM Updated: Thursday, January 05, 2012, 3:18 PM
By Grant Segall
View full sizeLarry Hamel-Lambert, The Plain Dealer
Lorain -- Jack McDermott hung out with world champions but liked interviewing teenage hopefuls, too.

McDermott, a long-time sportswriter for The Plain Dealer and other area newspapers, died Monday, Jan. 2, at home in Lorain from an apparent heart attack. The 68-year-old had suffered heart problems for years.

"Jack loved Lorain, knew it like the back of his hand and loved those kids out there," said Bob Fortuna, Plain Dealer sportswriter. "And the people in Lorain County loved Jack."

Those people included Joe Gentile, a boxer turned promoter. "Jack was a real, real nice guy," said Gentile. "He was fair with people. He was very supportive."

Gentile said he and McDermott had dinner with Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner in 1975, before the boxers' championship clash at the new Richfield Coliseum. And McDermott posed for a photo while taking a mock punch from champion Larry Holmes.

McDermott also covered countless young unknowns, including future stars like football's Matt Wilhelm, who won championships with Ohio State and Green Bay.

McDermott was born in Amherst and lived in Lorain County the rest of his life. He graduated from St. Mary Catholic School and Ohio State University.

In the mid-1960s, he began to cover high school teams for the Elyria Chronicle. He joined the Lorain Journal in 1969 and covered the Cavaliers's first years, including the Miracle of Richfield.

On the side, he was sports information director at Baldwin-Wallace College under football patriarch Lee Tressel and later at Oberlin College.

In 1978, he was sports editor of the short-lived Ohio Observer in Mansfield. He joined The Plain Dealer a year later and transferred to the paper's new Lorain County bureau in 1992. He retired in 2006.

McDermott coached his children in recreational baseball and softball. He was a passionate Democrat and Irish-American. He especially liked the Irish Tenor who shared his name.

His son, John M., coaches boys' basketball and girls' softball at Brookside High School in Sheffield and freelances sports stories for the Elyria Chronicle.
John Edmund McDermott

1943-2011

Survivors: Wife, the former Mary Kay Walker; mother, the former Margaret Mackin of North Ridge ville; children, John M. of Lorain, Kris Higgins of Hilliard, O., Molly McDermott of Amherst and Katy Smith of Clyde, O.; and 10 grand children.

Funeral: Private.

Contributions: St. Jude Chil dren's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, stjude.org, or Autism Speaks, 5455 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2250, Los Angeles, CA 90036, autismspeaks.org.

Arrangements: Dovin and Reber Jones of Amherst.

Globe trotting Armao wins award

Former Plain Dealer reporter and University at Albany journalism professor Rosemary Armao
was recently part of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which won the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting for a piece entitled "Off Shore Ink."
The piece provides a look at how organized crime and shady businesses have used corruption procedures in places like the Caribbean and Cyprus to elude accountability.

The project's website explained:

A series of stories documenting offshore tax havens, the criminals who use them and the millions of dollars in lost tax money has been awarded the top prize by the The International Consortium for Investigative Journalists.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project assembled a team of reporters throughout Eastern Europe and the United States to track the burgeoning network of offshore companies used to hide ownership and assets, launder money and create secret businesses that elude law enforcement agents worldwide.

The award was announced in Kyiv, Ukraine at the 2011 Global Investigative Journalism Conference. The prize is named in honor of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was murdered in Pakistan in 2002 while attempting to interview members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

Over the course of six months, OCCRP reporters investigated offshore tax havens including the U.S. state of Delaware, the Cayman Islands, Seychelles, New Zealand, Romania and Ukraine. The project, Offshore Crime Inc. included OCCRP reporters going undercover posing as businessmen looking to cheat on taxes with impunity.

OCCRP was selected the top project out of 70 entries from 30 countries.

To see the University of Albany's student press story go to: http://www.albanystudentpress.org/news/ualbany-professor-recognized-for-international-reporting-1.2678414#.Tu1jGJhE670

Pass the nuts

Dan Coughlin serves up a second rollicking collection of stories about colorful characters and memorable events from his four decades covering sports for Cleveland TV and newspapers. Meet the gun-toting fanatics of Morgana Park–once home of “the most intense slow pitch softball league in the world.” Sit in on a star-studded night in the legendary Theatrical Restaurant alongside Don King while Dan flips a coin for a $500 bar tab with Ted Turner. Ride along on a series of death-defying, top-priority helicopter trips to report on . . . high school football. Reading Dan’s stories is like dipping into a bowl of bar nuts–easy to start and hard to stop!

Here's a link to his blog and book ordering info:
http://dcoughlin.wordpress.com/books-by-dan/

Holiday Book Sale

Craving the new Steve Jobs biography? The definitive $75 coffee-table tome "Harry Potter: Page to Screen"? Or Annie Leibowitz's new photography collection: "Pilgrimage"?

All will be among the thousands of books for adults and children on sale in the Community Room on the Plain Dealer's second floor. The inventory includes hundreds of audiobooks, videos, CDs and a mix of miscellany.
Dec 8, Thursday, 3-6 p.m.
Dec. 9, Friday, 9 a.m. to noon

Checks and cash to the United Way. Prices remain steady: $3 hardcovers, $2 paperbacks & CDs, $8 audiobooks and $10 coffee-table books. Children's books will be limited to 10 per person on Thursday.

Karen Long