Ex-SF Chronicle biz columnist dies

Henry Schacht, who wrote a column on the front of the San Francisco Chronicle’s business section about the agriculture business for nearly four decades, died March 30 at the age of 95.

Carolyn Jones of the Chronicle writes, “Mr. Schacht’s first job was conducting an on-campus radio broadcast for an agriculture office at the university. He was quickly hired by the local NBC radio affiliate to do a morning farm report and eventually landed a column at The Chronicle.

“His column — conversational, topical and filled with stories of people — ran in The Chronicle from the early 1940s until he retired in 1981. It appeared twice a week on the right side of the Business section front.

“In one of his more memorable columns, Mr. Schacht waxed poetically about a herd of white cattle near San Luis Obispo.

“‘Equipped with wicked horns, they could jump like deer,’ he wrote. ‘And as (deer) hide their fawns, so do the cows hide their newborn calves in brush and grass.'”