Northgate News

In Memoriam - Jane Hatch

by the Northgate Board of Directors

Jane Hatch, who was the president of the Northgate Homes Corporation for more than 35 years, passed away on March 15, 2025, after a struggle with cancer. She was born in New York and lived as a child in New Jersey but spent most of her 73 years in Montgomery County, Maryland. She graduated from Churchill High School, attended Montgomery College, and graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Jane worked in electronics and computer industries as a young woman, but in mid-life she went back to school, earning a master’s degree from the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. She spent the rest of her life fighting for causes and candidates that mattered. Jane was formidable. If you had her on your side, you knew there was a cool and competent force next to you.

Jane was utterly devoted to her volunteer work for Northgate and took on with determination the plethora of tasks required of a homeowner’s association officer. She took exquisite care to research management and vendor services and respond to homeowner problems. Jane was always alert for any county money that might be available to homeowner organizations and procured many grants for Northgate. She was always first to learn about what was happening. For example, when there was a fire in the Shadow Oak neighborhood, Jane arrived at the scene right after the fire fighters, phone clutched to her ear as she arranged for housing and assistance for the displaced family. In the late 1980s, when homeowners in Dorsey’s Regard were surprised to learn that the adjacent Apple Ridge tract was to be developed, Jane worked tirelessly with the Northgate Board and lawyers to limit the number of homes to be built, and she was successful in preserving, for the kids, what today is the ball field. When the county was considering redrawing its Master Plan to allow Wightman Road to be widened to six lanes, thus cutting off North Village and encroaching on the Overlea neighborhood, Jane worked with several homeowner groups that were successful in fending off that action.

Jane is survived by her husband of 47 years, Neil Lerner, and her brothers Charles (Lynn) and Andy Hatch, sister Faith (Scott) McIntyre, and many other family members with whom she was close.

Jane had a big, bright personality. She was fun and she loved animals and genealogy. She enjoyed travel and volunteered in the community in many ways. Jane was a tireless researcher and problem solver and somehow suddenly knew more than you could imagine about veterinary care, plumbing, health issues, family history, zoning, arboriculture or whatever else she ran across out of the blue. In the words of her loving husband, Neil, Jane was a delight of surprises.

Northgate News: for residents of Apple Ridge, Dorsey's Regard, McKendree I & II, Overlea, The Points, Shadow Oak and Williams Range.