Kathryn Hach-Darrow

Kathryn Carter was born in Bucklin, Missouri, where her father was an automobile dealer. At Iowa State University, Kitty met Nellie May Naylor, a chemist in the home economics department who interested her in chemistry. ==Marriage and work==

Kathryn and her first husband Clifford C. Hach met as students at Iowa State University, and married in 1943. "I knew right away that this guy was going to build a chemical company," she says. "He didn't care how big Dow was or how big DuPont was, he was going to build his own company." Clifford did not receive his bachelor's degree until 1947, because he and other students were co-opted to work on war-time projects at the university. It was difficult to find jobs after graduation. Eventually, Clifford was hired part-time by a filtration company in Ames, Iowa to analyze water. Seeing how the water-treatment plant worked gave Clifford the idea for a process and a product: a simplified method of analysis that would enable workers to treat water with powdered formulas rather than heavy chemical solutions. She later served on numerous AWWA committees, including the President's Advisory Council. ==Hach Chemical Company==

Hach Chemical was instrumental in standardizing water-purification tests and pioneered many world-standard analytical instruments. Their tests were designed to be simple and effective, with nontechnical directions that made their products easy for both chemists and non-chemists to use. As of 2012, about 70 percent of municipalities in the United States used Hach Company instrumentation, allowing them to detect impurities in water at the parts-per-billion level. and was renamed Hach Company in 1980. Under Kitty Hach's management, the company developed an employee base of over 900 people and became one of the top women owned businesses in the United States. Kathryn Hach-Darrow was president, chief operating officer, and CEO of the Hach company. After Clifford's death in 1990, Kitty was named Hach Co.'s chairman and CEO and her son Bruce assumed the role of president. In 1995, she married Donald Darrow, a retired airline pilot, becoming Kitty Hach-Darrow. In 1999, Kitty and her son Bruce sold the Hach company to Danaher Corporation. ==Awards and honors==

• In 1957, Kathryn and Clifford Hach jointly won the American Water Works George Warren Fuller Award for distinguished service in the water supply field. • In 1987, the Hach Company was elected the Best Company in Colorado, receiving the award for the Northeastern part of the state. • In January 2000, she was voted a member of the Colorado Business Hall of Fame (sponsored by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Junior Achievement). • Kathryn "Kitty" Hach-Darrow received the second annual Pittcon Heritage Award in 2003. ==Philanthropy==

• In 1982 the Hachs established the Hach Scientific Foundation to support chemistry in the classroom through grants to students and schools. In January 2009, the Hach Scientific Foundation transferred its assets to the American Chemical Society, which continues to administer the scholarship and grant programs. • In May 2000, Kathryn Hach-Darrow gave a $10 million gift to Northwood University. The Hach Student Life Center, a 62,212 square foot student center which includes classrooms, social areas, and sports facilities, opened in 2002. • Kitty Hach-Darrow and the Hach family were significant contributors to the building of Hach Hall, a new chemistry building dedicated at Iowa State University on October 8, 2010. • Through gifts in 2012 and 2014, Hach-Darrow established an endowment for the Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success through the American Chemical Society. The award is to be given to someone who has "created something where nothing existed before”. ==References==