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.
