Orrin Grant Hatch was an American attorney and politician who served as the United States Senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019.
Hatch’s 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator in history.
Hatch died in Salt Lake City on Saturday at the age of 88.
In mourning his passing, President Joe Biden said, “He [Hatch] was the fighter who carried with him the memory of his humble upbringing near Pittsburgh, who never humored a bully, or shied from a challenge. The young man who, upon receiving his degree from Brigham Young University, was the first in his family to graduate college; the young lawyer who built a successful law practice; and the Senator who sprinted from meeting to meeting because there was so much to do—indeed, when Senator Hatch retired, he had sponsored or co-sponsored more legislation than any Senator at the time.”
Biden said further “I saw that energetic, sharp-elbowed Orrin in the many battles we had over tax policy, the right of workers to join a union, and many others.”
He also noted that “Senator Hatch was also a man of deep faith; a gentle soul who wrote songs and poems, and shared them with friends, colleagues, and the world. This was the Orrin who looked out for the people who often didn’t have a voice in our laws and our country. I saw this in his efforts to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
“When I first launched the Cancer Moonshot as Vice President, one of the first visits I made was to the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, at Orrin’s request. We both saw speeding the pace of cancer research as an issue that transcended political divisions,” he added.
The President said that at the casting of his “10,000th vote in the Senate, Orrin came to the Senate floor, and we had a chance to speak. I said that the greatest perk one has as a Senator was access to people with serious minds, a serious sense of purpose, and who cared about something. That was Orrin.”
“He was, quite simply, an American original,” said Biden.
In conclusion, Biden said, “Jill and I send our deepest sympathies to Elaine, and all of the Hatch children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.”
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Readers Bureau, Contributor
Edited by Jesus Chan
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