Our History

Our Founder

Lucy J. Hadac was born in Houston, Texas to a family with an established history of philanthropy. As Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, her grandfather, Will Clayton, was instrumental in the creation of the Marshall Plan and recovery of Europe after World War II. As a suffragette and staunch supporter of women’s rights, her grandmother, Sue Clayton, became an original founder of what is now Planned Parenthood of Houston.

Their four daughters, sharing the virtues of their parents, each created separate charitable foundations to support their communities and continue the family legacy. While serving as a director at one of these foundations, Lucy discovered her passion as a champion of generosity. But her attention had shifted to the community she would forever call home; the Pacific Northwest. Her attraction to the natural beauty of the Cascade and Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound waters began the moment she arrived in Seattle as a young mother in the late 1950’s.

By the late 1980’s, her love of the Northwest and roots in the community had grown too great for her Aunt Susan to ignore. In 1990, with the help of the Susan McAshan Foundation of Texas, the Horizons Foundation was established. With one eye on the legacy of her ancestors and their concerns for women and children, Lucy was given the opportunity to support both environmental causes and families in Washington State.

30 years later, we celebrate her uninterrupted leadership, and are inspired by her limitless passion to give.