Don Hatch earned his undergraduate degree in architectural engineering from the University of Kansas in 1930, gaining experience in the Glen H. Thomas office of Wichita. He continued his education in New York City at the New School for Social Research and at Columbia University. In 1932 he was one of 25 draftsmen selected in NYC to study housing conditions on the lower east side.

Hatch worked as a designer in the firm Hood and Fouilhoux in the early 1930s; Raymond Hood was the chief architect of the Rockefeller Center. In 1935, Hatch opened his own office in partnership with Landefeld, and immediately began receiving awards in architectural competitions, including first prize in General Electric's "Home Electric Competition." Thereafter Hatch designed several buildings for the 1939 New York World's Fair, including the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company's "House of Tomorrow" and the National Cash Register building. Hatch also designed several residences and estates in Bermuda.

Hatch served in the Marine Corps during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel and serving in the Pacific. After the war, in 1948, Hatch moved to Caracas, Venezuela to serve as chief architect for the International Basic Economy Corporation, an organization that had been established by Nelson Rockefeller in 1947 to "upgrade" basic economic conditions in developing countries. Hatch opened his own architectural office in Caracas and designed several major commercial and public buildings, as well as private residences, including shopping and commercial centers in Venezuela and Peru for the International Basic Economy Corporation, buildings for the U.S. Rubber Company and National Cash Register Company, Mobil Oil Company's operations in Venezuela, and U.S. embassy buildings in both Port au Prince, Haiti and Caracas.

While working in Venezuela, Hatch opened the Galeria Don Hatch in Caracas, which served as an art center. The Galeria had exhibitions featuring a variety of art forms, including paintings, sculpture, furniture, textiles, and ceramics, with works by Venezuelan and foreign artists.

Hatch returned to the United States in 1959, moving to San Francisco, California and forming the partnership Hatch, White, Herman, and Steinau. Major works in this phase of Hatch's career included the Chico State College Union Building, the Administration Building for the University of California - Davis campus, and Canadian Pacific Airlines (CPA)'s offices in Union Square. Hatch continued to travel back and forth to Venezuela after moving to San Francisco.

Hatch had three children: Donald, Mary Helen, and Jennifer. He was married to Ruth (Kent) Hatch when he died in 1977 at the age of 59.

[Information retrieved from obituary written by Curtis Besinger available in the University of Kansas Archives' morgue file and from the New York Times obituary dated September 9, 1977.]