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Sen. Orrin Hatch: A life in photos

Utahan retired in January 2019 as the longest-serving Senate Republican

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch speaks to the press after the Senate luncheons in 2005.  The Utah Republican died Saturday at the age of 88.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch speaks to the press after the Senate luncheons in 2005. The Utah Republican died Saturday at the age of 88. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Former Utah Sen. Orrin G. Hatch died Saturday at the age of 88. The long-serving Republican first came to the Senate in 1977 and retired in 2019 as president pro tempore and the most senior member of his party.

Hatch had a long and accomplished career in the Senate, with his last legacy item an overhaul of the tax system when he was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 2017. 

Here are just a few photos from our archives of his long tenure on Capitol Hill.

Hatch, seated behind table, center left, appears with Republican senators in 1977, his first year in the chamber.
Hatch and Brigham Young University football coach LaVell Edwards meet with President Ronald Reagan in January 1985.
Hatch and his wife, Elaine, pose with TV star Tom Selleck at a February 1991 gala at the National Building Museum. (Maureen Keating/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch was known for working across the aisle. Here he is seen with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., at a Labor Committee hearing in the 1980s. (Laura Patterson/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch listens to a CD in his Russell Senate office in 1997. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch and Kennedy are pictured again in Washington’s Union Station in 2007. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch speaks to U2’s Bono after the memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall in 2008. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., greets Hatch at a reception in the Russell Caucus Room in September 2000. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch is pictured at the 2004 Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch and House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., talk near the Senate chamber in 2011. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch arrives in Statuary Hall during President Barack Obama’s second inauguration on January 21, 2013. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch speaks during a news conference outside the Capitol in July 2014. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch displays Roll Call’s 2012 and 2014 Taste of America trophies in July 2014. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch arrives for the second day of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil M. Gorsuch in the Hart Building on March 21, 2017. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Hatch packs up his office on Dec. 11, 2018, as he prepares to depart the Senate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

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