I read an obit the other day for a person I knew peripherally.  Sure, I met her, spoke with her, even joined in a demonstration (NO!!! not that kind of demonstration) with her.

Back when I knew her, her husband’s (and hers) company was making my job- and folks like me- pretty easy.   They produced a bunch of fool-proof (generally) kits that let one assay the quality of one’s water (among other things).   I was introduced to the Hach Company back when the Federal Water Quality Control Administration (FWQCA) existed.  Hach helped many of our investigators get valid results – quickly- about the waters to be tested.

One of the things that I thought was most funny was that the company was based in Ames, Iowa.   Because one of the tests we used in addition to those developed by Hach was the Ames mutagenicity test (was a compound capable of causing mutations).   And, it turns out the reason why it was funny had NOTHING to do with Ames, Iowa. Because that test was so named because Dr. Bruce Ames of UC Berkeley developed the process.

But, back to Hach- and to Kitty (Kathryn) Carter Hach (Darrow).  She and Clifford began their venture back in the mid-1950’s.   While Cliff developed the tests, Kitty was in charge of the marketing.

OK, she was more than marketing.  She was their “Denny Russell”.  Denny was a talented designer that owned a plane (of course, he was also a pilot) and could transport us to various locations (some out of the way, where we could land as long as there was open space- even without an airport.)  Kitty did the same thing- with another wrinkle- one we sort of copied a decade later.

Kitty searched out every town and city in America with a population exceeding 30000.  To which she mailed postcards to every water purveyor, attempting to convince them to use her husband’s test kits.  Because most of their employees had nary a clue about chemistry!  Once she had her pilot’s license, would fly to those cities (and to trade shows) to close the sale.

The key consideration is that the Hach Company made it possible to water purveyors to finally ensure that what they sold to the public was, indeed, worthy of such a sale.  Because the Hach test kits were foolproof enough for any Tom, Dick, Harry, (and eventually Lisa) to properly assay water quality.

When her husband died in 1990, Kitty took over the reins of Hach.  Which she sold to Danaher (a DC metropolitan area firm, whose original owners now operate an outstanding private museum, Glenstone), eight years later,  for $ 325 million about a decade later.

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