The Reporter: February 1997, Vol.8, No.1
Columbia's Profiles in Giving
Richard and Rakia Hatch

Richard and Rakia Hatch with two Hatch Professors, Dr. Allan Schwartz and Dr. Herbert Pardes

Two families with histories of success in American business were joined in the early 1900s when Harold A. Hatch and Margaret Milliken married. After the death of Margaret Hatch in 1970, her husband created the Margaret Milliken Hatch Trust. Harold Hatch died in 1978, leaving the management of the trust to son Richard Hatch and his wife, Rakia, who have become generous supporters of programs at CPMC and P&S.

Richard Hatch says his parents held deep appreciation for Columbia's "wonderfully fruitful studies of and personal services to mankind." Today, that appreciation continues to be honored. Bearing the Hatch name or support are four professorships, a diagnostic center, and various projects. Several distinguished P&S alumni and faculty members, including the late Dr. David Habif, have been Hatch family physicians.

The Hatch Chair in Cardiology is held by Dr. Paul Cannon. Endowed chairs not only make it possible for faculty to conduct research, but also allow the University to recruit some of the best scientists in the world. The Hatch Young Investigators Fund in Cardiology and the Hatch Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, seat of the world's most powerful nuclear magnetic resonance scanner, are other programs funded by the family. The Hatches also have contributed substantially to the scholarship endowment for the School of Nursing. They established the Margaret Milliken Hatch Professorship in Medicine, which is held by Dr. Allan Schwartz, director of the Interventional Cardiology Center. Most recently, they established the distinguished Hatch Professorship, held by Dr. Pardes, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and vice president of Health Sciences. They also helped make possible the Kenneth A. Forde Professorship in Surgery, named for the P&S alumnus and professor of clinical surgery.