Kathryn "Kitty" Hach-Darrow

2005-2006 Honoree of the year

Kathryn “Kitty” Hach-Darrow was the ARCS Colorado Chapter 2005-2006 Honoree of the Year. She was a businesswoman and a pilot at a time when neither were common.  She passed away on June 4, 2020, in Loveland, CO at the age of 97. Hach-Darrow was the co-founder, along with her late husband Clifford Hach, of the Hach Chemical Company in Iowa. While Clifford Hach developed the analytical chemistry portion of the business, Kitty Hach marketed the business and oversaw the company’s activities. In fact, they are legends in water circles because the company founded standardized water quantification tests that ensure that clean water flows from household taps. In 1977 the company built a new facility in Loveland for the manufacture of instrumentation. Flying between the two plants became an integral part of her life. Hach-Darrow flew throughout her career, racking up 7,000 air miles and at the age of 65 she acquired her license to pilot a jet.
 
The Hach Scientific Foundation was founded in 1982 to foster and support science and science education. Through ARCS, the foundation has provided $132,000 in scholarships for outstanding chemistry majors, $72,000 of which was awarded to students in Colorado. Hach-Darrow sold the company about 20 years ago for $355 million and has been incredibly generous to causes she believed would make a difference. She was a member of the Committee of 200 Executive Women and a member of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots. Hach-Darrow was the first woman director of the American Water Works Association, first woman to serve on the board at Loveland’s First National Bank and was awarded the 1993 Colorado Woman of the Year by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
 
The ARCS Colorado Chapter is very proud of its association with such a dynamic, entrepreneurial and philanthropic woman. Kathryn “Kitty” Hach-Darrow is survived by her 3 children, 10 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.