Chester Lach; Turned a Failing Children’s Home Into a Model

Chester Lach, who took over a financially strapped 40-bed home for emotionally disturbed children and developed it into what is considered one of the nation’s most comprehensive treatment centers, is dead at age 63.

Lach, executive director since 1959 of the Hathaway Home for Children, died in Palm Springs on Saturday of heart failure.

With the financial assistance of actress Julie Andrews, a donation of land from the Cecil B. DeMille Trust and an outpouring of support from private individuals, the Hathaway home in 1968 moved from near-bankrupt conditions into the 300-acre Hathaway Children’s Village at the old Cecil B. DeMille Paradise Ranch in Little Tujunga Canyon. The school now provides psychiatric services and academic training for 150 children at two campuses, the second in Highland Park.

Lach, who held a master’s degree from USC, came to Hathaway after working at Los Angeles Juvenile Hall, Camarillo State Hospital (where he established a separate children’s unit) and the Ventura County Mental Hygiene Clinic. In 1964 he obtained $2 million from the Community Health Center, a federal grant that matched the $2 million raised privately and that resulted in the construction of Hathaway Village. He also, in conjunction with Pacoima Memorial Hospital, obtained an eight-year staffing grant of $8 million.

Today the school functions on a $9-million annual budget with a staff of 290, which also serves children on an outpatient basis.

Lach’s inspiration for the Children’s Village came on a trip to Germany in the 1960s, where he saw some of Herman Geimiener’s kinderdorf, homes where all of a child’s needs, regardless of emotional or physical handicap, could be met with professional help and parental counseling.

Lach was the 1985 recipient of the Daniel E. Koshland Award, considered the state’s most significant tribute to social service workers and named for the former chairman of Levi Strauss Corp.

He is survived by his wife, Lottie, a daughter, son, brother and sister.

Memorial services are scheduled at 3 p.m. today at Wiefels & Sons in Palm Springs and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Children’s Village. In lieu of flowers, the family asks contributions to Hathaway Home for Children, Box 3547, Pacoima, CA 91333.