100 Notable alumni of
Amherst College
Updated:
Amherst College is 200th in the world, 85th in North America, and 82nd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Amherst College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
-
Dan Brown
- Occupations
- prose writerwritermusicianteachernovelist
- Biography
-
Daniel Gerhard Brown is an American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013), and Origin (2017). His novels are treasure hunts that usually take place over a period of 24 hours. They feature recurring themes of cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 57 languages and, as of 2012, have sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Inferno, have been adapted into films, while one of them, The Lost Symbol, was adapted into a television series.
-
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- 1977-1981 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in political science
- Occupations
- environmentalistpoliticianbobsledderracing automobile driverfilm actor
- Biography
-
Albert II is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005.
-
Calvin Coolidge
- Occupations
- politicianautobiographerstatespersonlawyer
- Biography
-
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously served as the 29th vice president from 1921 to 1923 under President Warren G. Harding, and as the 48th governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921. Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal".
-
David Foster Wallace
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- 1980-1985 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and English studies
- Occupations
- university teacherwriternovelistessayist
- Biography
-
David Foster Wallace was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace's 1996 novel Infinite Jest was cited by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. His posthumous novel, The Pale King (2011), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012. David Ulin of the Los Angeles Times called Wallace "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last twenty years".
-
Jeffrey Wright
- Occupations
- film produceractorfilm actorstage actortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Jeffrey Wright is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award. Wright began his career in theater where he gained prominence for his role in the Broadway production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America (1993), for which he won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in the acclaimed 2003 HBO miniseries adaptation, earning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
-
Harlan Coben
- Occupations
- writernovelistscreenwriter
- Biography
-
Harlan Coben is an American writer of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past, murders, or fatal accidents and have multiple twists. Twelve of his novels have been adapted for film and television.
-
Burgess Meredith
- Occupations
- film actorcharacter actorscreenwriteractorstage actor
- Biography
-
Oliver Burgess Meredith was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed radio, theater, film, and television.
-
Stephen Collins
- Occupations
- stage actoractortelevision actortelevision directorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Stephen Weaver Collins is an American child molester and former actor. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the WB/CW television series 7th Heaven from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC television series No Ordinary Family and Gene Porter in the NBC television series Revolution, father of Elizabeth Mitchell's character, Rachel Matheson. Before 7th Heaven, Collins was known for his roles as Commander Willard Decker in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture and fighter pilot Jake Cutter in the ABC television series Tales of the Gold Monkey. In 2014, his career ended after he confessed to sexual misconduct against multiple minors.
-
Hamish Linklater
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm directorfilm producertelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Hamish Linklater is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010), Andrew Keanelly in The Crazy Ones (2013–2014), and Clark Debussy in Legion (2017–2019). He is the son of dramatic vocal trainer Kristin Linklater. In 2021, he starred as Father Paul in the horror miniseries Midnight Mass, for which he received high critical acclaim.
-
David O. Russell
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwriterdirectorfilm directorwriter
- Biography
-
David Owen Russell is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has earned numerous accolades including two British Academy Film Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for five Academy Awards.
-
John Michael Higgins
- Occupations
- film actorvoice actortelevision actoractor
- Biography
-
John Michael Higgins is an American actor, game show host, and comedian whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's The Late Shift, and a starring role in the American version of Kath & Kim. He portrayed Peter Lovett in the TV Land original sitcom Happily Divorced and provided the voice of Iknik Blackstone Varrick in The Legend of Korra and Mini-Max in Big Hero 6: The Series. He also starred in the NBC sitcom Great News as Chuck Pierce for two seasons. Since 2018, he has hosted the game show America Says, which earned him a 2019 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host. Higgins attended Amherst College, graduating in 1985 and was a member of the a cappella group the Zumbyes. Starting on April 17, 2023, he has also hosted the new version of the game show Split Second on Game Show Network.
-
Teller
- Occupations
- biographerwriterteacherexecutive producerstage magician
- Biography
-
Teller is an American magician. He is half of the comedy magic duo Penn & Teller, along with Penn Jillette, and usually does not speak during performances. Teller is a H.L. Mencken Fellow at the Cato Institute.
-
Joseph E. Stiglitz
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- In 1964 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writernon-fiction writercriticscience writereconomist
- Biography
-
Joseph Eugene Stiglitz is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. He is also a former member and chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers. He is known for his support for the Georgist public finance theory and for his critical view of the management of globalization, of laissez-faire economists (whom he calls "free-market fundamentalists"), and of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
-
Talcott Parsons
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- In 1924 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- sociologistbiologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociology in the 20th century. After earning a PhD in economics, he served on the faculty at Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. In 1930, he was among the first professors in its new sociology department. Later, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard.
-
Uhuru Kenyatta
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta CGH is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. The son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, he previously served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2008 to 2013.
-
Jim Steinman
- Occupations
- musiciansingerrecord producercomposersinger-songwriter
- Biography
-
James Richard Steinman was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, musical theater, and film score genres. He wrote songs for Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf, including Bat Out of Hell (one of the best-selling albums in history), and also wrote and produced Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night.
-
Drew Pinsky
- Occupations
- radio personalityphysicianpodcasteractor
- Biography
-
David Drew Pinsky, commonly known as Dr. Drew, is an American media personality, internist, and addiction medicine specialist. He hosted the nationally syndicated radio talk show Loveline from the show's inception in 1984 until its end in 2016. On television, he hosted the talk show Dr. Drew On Call on HLN and the daytime series Lifechangers on The CW. In addition, he served as producer and starred in the VH1 show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and its spinoffs Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew, Celebrity Rehab Presents Sober House. Pinsky currently hosts several podcasts, including Ask Dr. Drew, The Dr. Drew Podcast on the PodcastOne Network, and The Adam and Drew Show with his former Loveline co-host Adam Carolla. From February 2019 - December 2023, he hosted Dr. Drew After Dark on the Your Mom's House network.
-
Ken Howard
- Occupations
- stage actortrade unionistactortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 (1972) and as high school basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show The White Shadow (1978–1981). Howard won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1970 for his performance in Child's Play, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his work in Grey Gardens (2009).
-
Daniel Goleman
- Occupations
- psychologistwriterresearcherjournalist
- Biography
-
Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book Emotional Intelligence was on The New York Times Best Seller list for a year and a half, a bestseller in many countries, and is in print worldwide in 40 languages. Apart from his books on emotional intelligence, Goleman has written books on topics including self-deception, creativity, transparency, meditation, social and emotional learning, ecoliteracy and the ecological crisis, and the Dalai Lama's vision for the future.
-
Julie Powell
- Occupations
- writerbloggeropinion journalist
- Biography
-
Julie Anne Powell was an American author known for her 2005 book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen which was based on her blog, the Julie/Julia Project. A film adaptation based on her book called Julie & Julia was released in 2009.
-
Larry Miller
- Occupations
- television actorcharacter actorscreenwriterfilm actorpodcaster
- Biography
-
Lawrence John Miller is an American comedian, actor, podcaster, and columnist. He is primarily regarded as a character actor, with The A.V. Club noting that he "can be counted upon to improve every film or television show he appears in". His better-known roles include Lou Bonaparte in Mad About You (1993–1998), Pointy-haired Boss in Dilbert (1999–2000), Edwin Poole in Boston Legal (2004–2008), Mr. Hollister in Pretty Woman (1990), Dean Richmond in The Nutty Professor (1996) and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), Walter Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Principal Elliot T. Jindraike in Max Keeble's Big Move (2001) and Paolo Puttanesca in The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). He reprised his role as Walter Stratford in the television series 10 Things I Hate About You (2009–2010).
-
David Eisenhower
- Occupations
- writermilitary officer
- Biography
-
Dwight David Eisenhower II is an American author, public policy fellow, lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, and eponym of the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. He is the grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, and a son-in-law of President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon.
-
Rob Brown
- Occupations
- television actorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Robert Brown is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films Finding Forrester (2000), Coach Carter (2005), Take the Lead (2006), and The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2008), and for starring in the HBO series Treme (2010–13) and NBC series Blindspot (2015-2020).
-
David Suzuki
- Occupations
- zoologistenvironmentalistwriterscience writerbiologist
- Biography
-
David Takayoshi Suzuki CC OBC FRSC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his television and radio series, documentaries and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host and narrator of the popular and long-running CBC Television science program The Nature of Things, seen in over 40 countries. He is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.
-
Chris Coons
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- In 1985 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- businesspersonpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
-
Christopher Andrew Coons is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2010 as the senior United States senator from Delaware. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle County from 2005 to 2010.
-
Giorgos Papandreou
- Occupations
- sociologistpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
-
George Andreas Papandreou is an American-born Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as an MP for Movement for Change.
-
Charles Drew
- Occupations
- physiciansurgeonuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Charles Richard Drew was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces' lives during the war. As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.
-
William Smith Clark
- Occupations
- politicianchemistbotanistbotanical collectorwriter
- Biography
-
William Smith Clark was an American professor of chemistry, botany, and zoology; a colonel during the American Civil War; and a leader in agricultural education. Raised and schooled in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Clark spent most of his adult life in Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College in 1848 and obtained a doctorate in chemistry from Georgia Augusta University in Göttingen in 1852. He then served as professor of chemistry at Amherst College from 1852 to 1867. During the Civil War, he was granted leave from Amherst to serve with the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, eventually achieving the rank of colonel and the command of that unit.
-
Aparna Nancherla
- Occupations
- screenwritervoice actortelevision actorcomedian
- Biography
-
Aparna Nancherla is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has had recurring roles on television series including BoJack Horseman and Corporate and has written for Late Night with Seth Meyers and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. Nancherla released her debut comedy album Just Putting It Out There through Tig Notaro's Bentzen Ball Records on July 8, 2016.
-
Joseph Hardy Neesima
- Occupations
- teachermissionary
- Biography
-
Niijima Jō, better known by his English name Joseph Hardy Neesima, was a Japanese Protestant missionary and educator of the Meiji era who founded Doshisha English School (later Doshisha University).
-
Carl Woese
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- In 1950 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- biologistuniversity teachermicrobiologist
- Biography
-
Carl Richard Woese was an American microbiologist and biophysicist. Woese is famous for defining the Archaea (a new domain of life) in 1977 through a pioneering phylogenetic taxonomy of 16S ribosomal RNA, a technique that has revolutionized microbiology. He also originated the RNA world hypothesis in 1967, although not by that name. Woese held the Stanley O. Ikenberry Chair and was professor of microbiology at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign.
-
John S. Middleton
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
John Staubus Middleton is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the managing partner and principal owner of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball. He purchased a minority stake in 1994 and increased his ownership to 48 percent by 2014. He became the Phillies' control person in 2016.
-
Antonis Samaras
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- In 1974 studied economics
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomateconomist
- Biography
-
Antonis Samaras is a Greek politician who served as 14th Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his national political career as Minister of Finance in 1989; he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1992 (with a brief interruption in 1990) and Minister of Culture in 2009.
-
Eric Schneiderman
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Eric Tradd Schneiderman is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten years in the New York State Senate before being elected Attorney General. In May 2018, Schneiderman resigned from his position as Attorney General after The New Yorker reported that four women had accused him of physical abuse. In 2021, Schneiderman’s law license was suspended for a year after a disciplinary proceeding where he admitted to the abusive conduct.
-
Thomas Eagleton
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary officerlawyer
- Biography
-
Thomas Francis Eagleton was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. He suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public. When they were revealed, it humiliated the McGovern campaign, and Eagleton was forced to quit the race. He later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.
-
Uchimura Kanzō
- Occupations
- essayistcolumnistreligious writerwriterphilosopher
- Biography
-
Uchimura Kanzō was a Japanese author, Christian evangelist, and the founder of the Nonchurch Movement (Mukyōkai) of Christianity during the Meiji and Taishō periods in Japan. He is often considered to be the most well-known Japanese pre-World War II pacifist.
-
Henry Ward Beecher
- Occupations
- theologianpoliticianwriterjournalist
- Biography
-
Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His rhetorical focus on Christ's love has influenced mainstream Christianity through the 21st century.
-
William H. Webster
- Occupations
- judgemilitary officerlawyer
- Biography
-
William Hedgcock Webster is an American retired attorney and jurist who most recently served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit before becoming director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1978 to 1987 and director of Central Intelligence (CIA) from 1987 to 1991. He is the only person to have held both positions.
-
Matt Besser
- Occupations
- screenwriterpodcastertelevision actorfilm director
- Biography
-
Matthew Gregory Besser is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer, and one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He hosts the improvisation-based podcast Improv4humans, previously on the Earwolf network, but now solely operated by himself and Brett Morris.
-
Ezekiel Emanuel
- Occupations
- oncologistbioethicist
- Biography
-
Ezekiel Jonathan "Zeke" Emanuel is an American oncologist and bioethicist. He is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is the current Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Previously, Emanuel served as the Diane and Robert Levy University Professor at Penn. He holds a joint appointment at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School and was formerly an associate professor at the Harvard Medical School until 1998 when he joined the National Institutes of Health.
-
Scott Turow
- Occupations
- writernovelistlawyerpoet lawyer
- Biography
-
Scott Frederick Turow is an American author and lawyer. Turow worked as a lawyer for a decade before writing full-time, and has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novels are set primarily among the legal community in the fictional Kindle County. Films have been based on several of his books.
-
Aatish Taseer
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- In 2003 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in French and political science
- Occupations
- translatorjournalistauthor
- Biography
-
Aatish Ali Taseer is a British-American writer and journalist.
-
Sarah Bloom Raskin
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
-
Sarah Bloom Raskin is an American attorney and financial markets policymaker who served as the 13th United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 2014 to 2017. Raskin previously served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2010 to 2014. She also was Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation. She was a Rubenstein Fellow at Duke University. She is currently the Colin W. Brown Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at Duke Law School. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Duke Center on Risk. She also serves as a Partner at Kaya Partners, Ltd., a climate advisory firm.
-
John J. McCloy
- Occupations
- bankerpoliticianhistorianjuristarmy officer
- Biography
-
John Jay McCloy was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and high-ranking bureaucrat. He served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry Stimson. In this capacity he dealt with German sabotage and political tensions in the North Africa Campaign. He was both the prime mover of Japanese internment and as well as a high-ranking Federal bureaucrat who opposed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, he served as the president of the World Bank, U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Warren Commission, and a prominent adviser to all presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan.
-
Harlan F. Stone
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianlawyerjudge
- Biography
-
Harlan Fiske Stone was an American attorney who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1925 to 1941 and then as the 12th chief justice of the United States from 1941 until his death in 1946. He also served as the U.S. Attorney General from 1924 to 1925 under President Calvin Coolidge, with whom he had attended Amherst College as a young man. His most famous dictum was that "Courts are not the only agency of government that must be assumed to have capacity to govern."
-
Buck Sexton
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- 2000-2004 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in political science
- Occupations
- punditradio personality
- Biography
-
James Buckman Sexton, known professionally as Buck Sexton, is an American radio and television talk show host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show he presents with Clay Travis, and the host of Hold the Line, a weeknight program on The First TV.
-
Robert M. Morgenthau
- Occupations
- lawyermilitary officer
- Biography
-
Robert Morris Morgenthau was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York throughout much of the 1960s on the appointment of John F. Kennedy. At retirement, Morgenthau was the longest-serving district attorney in the history of the State of New York.
-
Lauren Groff
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
-
Lauren Groff is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written five novels and two short story collections, including Fates and Furies (2015), Florida (2018), Matrix (2022), and The Vaster Wilds (2023).
-
Clarence Birdseye
- Occupations
- inventorbiologistbusinessperson
- Biography
-
Clarence Birdseye was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He founded the frozen food company Birds Eye. Among his inventions during his career was the double belt freezer.
-
Francisco Flores
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Francisco Guillermo Flores Pérez was a Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1999 to 1 June 2004 as a member of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). He previously served as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly from 1994 to 1999, having been president of the Assembly from 1997 to 1999.
-
Kevin McAleenan
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
-
Kevin Kealoha McAleenan is an American attorney and government official who served as the acting United States secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019.
-
Emily Dickinson (1830-1913)
- Occupations
- lawyerpoet
- Biography
-
William Austin Dickinson was an American lawyer who lived and worked in Amherst, Massachusetts. Known to family and friends as "Austin", he was, notably, the older brother of poet Emily Dickinson.
-
Stansfield Turner
- Occupations
- reportermilitary officerhistoriansailormilitary commander
- Biography
-
Stansfield Turner was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as President of the Naval War College (1972–1974), commander of the United States Second Fleet (1974–1975), and Supreme Allied Commander NATO Southern Europe (1975–1977), and was Director of Central Intelligence (1977–1981) under the Carter administration. A graduate of Exeter College, Oxford and the United States Naval Academy, Turner served for more than 30 years in the Navy, commanding warships, a carrier group, and NATO's military forces in southern Europe, among other commands.
-
Tess Taylor
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
-
Tess Taylor is an American poet, academic, and a contributor to CNN and NPR.
-
David Rieff
- Occupations
- political scientistpolitical writerwriterjournalist
- Biography
-
David Rieff is an American nonfiction writer and policy analyst. His books have focused on issues of immigration, international conflict, and humanitarianism.
-
John Coolidge
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
John Coolidge was an American executive, businessman, and entrepreneur with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. He was the first son of Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States (1923–1929) and Grace Coolidge, the First Lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929.
-
Stephen Cole Kleene
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- Studied in 1930
- Occupations
- university teachermathematiciancomputer scientistphilosopher
- Biography
-
Stephen Cole Kleene was an American mathematician. One of the students of Alonzo Church, Kleene, along with Rózsa Péter, Alan Turing, Emil Post, and others, is best known as a founder of the branch of mathematical logic known as recursion theory, which subsequently helped to provide the foundations of theoretical computer science. Kleene's work grounds the study of computable functions. A number of mathematical concepts are named after him: Kleene hierarchy, Kleene algebra, the Kleene star (Kleene closure), Kleene's recursion theorem and the Kleene fixed-point theorem. He also invented regular expressions in 1951 to describe McCulloch-Pitts neural networks, and made significant contributions to the foundations of mathematical intuitionism.
-
Ben Cherington
- Occupations
- baseball manager
- Biography
-
Benjamin P. Cherington is an American baseball executive serving as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) since November 2019. He previously served as the vice-president of baseball operations for the Toronto Blue Jays, and was the executive vice president and general manager of the Boston Red Sox from 2011 to 2015. He succeeded Theo Epstein in that position, having worked in the team's baseball operations office since 1999, before Epstein's arrival.
-
Douglas Kennedy
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Douglas Richards Kennedy was an American actor who appeared in more than 190 films from 1935 to 1973.
-
David D. Burns
- Years
- 1942-.. (age 83)
- Occupations
- psychiatrist
- Biography
-
David D. Burns is an American psychiatrist and adjunct professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the author of bestselling books such as Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, The Feeling Good Handbook and Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety.
-
John M. Deutch
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacherchemist
- Biography
-
John Mark Deutch is an American civil servant and physical chemist. He was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1994 to 1995 and Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from May 10, 1995, until December 15, 1996. He is an emeritus Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and serves on the boards of directors of Citigroup, Cummins, Raytheon, and Schlumberger. Deutch is also a member of the Trilateral Commission.
-
Jeffrey C. Hall
- Occupations
- biologistuniversity teachergeneticist
- Biography
-
Jeffrey Connor Hall is an American geneticist and chronobiologist. Hall is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Brandeis University and currently resides in Cambridge, Maine.
-
Edmund Phelps
- Occupations
- university teachereconomist
- Biography
-
Edmund Strother Phelps is an American economist and the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
-
Chris Bohjalian
- Occupations
- writerjournalistnovelist
- Biography
-
Chris A. Bohjalian is an American novelist and the author of over twenty novels, including Midwives (1997), The Sandcastle Girls (2012), The Guest Room (2016), and The Flight Attendant (2018). Bohjalian's work has been published in over thirty languages, and three of his novels have been adapted into films. Bohjalian's The Flight Attendant has been adapted for a television drama starring Kaley Cuoco.
-
Charles Hamilton Houston
- Occupations
- university teacherjuristlawyer
- Biography
-
Charles Hamilton Houston was an American lawyer. He was the dean of Howard University Law School and NAACP first special counsel. A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, Houston played a significant role in dismantling Jim Crow laws, especially attacking segregation in schools and racial housing covenants. He earned the title "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow".
-
Robert Lansing
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomatlawyer
- Biography
-
Robert Lansing was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 42nd United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1915 to 1920. As Counselor to the State Department and then as Secretary of State, he was a leading advocate for American involvement in World War I.
-
Patrick Fitzgerald
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is an American lawyer and former partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
-
Harold E. Varmus
- Occupations
- university teachervirologist
- Biography
-
Harold Eliot Varmus is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center.
-
David Aaron Kessler
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- Studied in 1973
- Occupations
- officialacademic administratorwriterpediatricianuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
David Aaron Kessler is an American pediatrician, attorney, author, and administrator (both academic and governmental) serving as Chief Science Officer of the White House COVID-19 Response Team since 2021. Kessler was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from November 8, 1990, to February 28, 1997. He co-chaired the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021 and was the head of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government program to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments, from January to February 2021.
-
James Merrill
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
-
James Ingram Merrill was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for Divine Comedies. His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyric poetry of his early career, and the epic narrative of occult communication with spirits and angels, titled The Changing Light at Sandover (published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980), which dominated his later career. Although most of his published work was poetry, he also wrote essays, fiction, and plays.
-
Charles C. Mann
- Occupations
- non-fiction writerjournalistscience journalist
- Biography
-
Charles C. Mann is an American journalist and author, specializing in scientific topics. In 2006 his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus won the National Academies Communication Award for best book of the year. He is the co-author of four books, and contributing editor for Science, The Atlantic Monthly, and Wired.
-
John Roosevelt Boettiger
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacher
- Biography
-
John Roosevelt Boettiger is a retired professor of developmental and clinical psychology, and the son of Anna Roosevelt Boettiger and her second husband, Clarence John Boettiger. He is a grandson of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. He lives in northern California.
-
John Cariani
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
-
John Edward Cariani is an American actor and playwright. Cariani is best known as the forensic expert Julian Beck in Law & Order. On stage, he earned a Tony Award nomination for his role as Motel the Tailor in the 2004 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. He is also known for his roles in Broadway shows Something Rotten! and The Band's Visit, and for writing Almost, Maine, one of the most produced plays in American high schools.
-
Richard Wilbur
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- Studied in 1938
- Occupations
- university teacherwritertranslatorpoet
- Biography
-
Richard Purdy Wilbur was an American poet and literary translator. One of the foremost poets, along with his friend Anthony Hecht, of the World War II generation, Wilbur's work, often employing rhyme, and composed primarily in traditional forms, was marked by its wit, charm, and gentlemanly elegance. He was acclaimed in his youth as the heir to Robert Frost, translated the verse dramas of Moliere, Corneille, and Racine into rhymed English, collaborated with Leonard Bernstein as the lyricist for the opera Candide, and in his old age acted, particularly through his role in the annual West Chester University Poetry Conference, as a mentor to the younger poets of the New Formalist movement. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987 and received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice, in 1957 and 1989.
-
Galusha A. Grow
- Occupations
- businesspersonpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
-
Galusha Aaron Grow was an American politician, lawyer, writer and businessman, who served as 24th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863. Elected as a Democrat in the 1850 congressional elections, he switched to the newly organized Republican Party in the mid-1850s when the Democratic Party tried to force the extension of slavery into western territories.
-
Toshikazu Kase
- Occupations
- diplomatwriter
- Biography
-
Toshikazu Kase was a Japanese civil servant and career diplomat. During World War II he was a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official. Hideaki Kase is his son and Yoko Ono is his niece.
-
John Bates Clark
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teachereconomist
- Biography
-
John Bates Clark was an American neoclassical economist. He was one of the pioneers of the marginalist revolution and opponent to the Institutionalist school of economics, and spent most of his career as a professor at Columbia University. He was one of the most prominent American economists of his time.
-
Dave Freudenthal
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
-
David Duane Freudenthal is an American attorney, economist, and politician who served as the 31st governor of Wyoming from 2003 to 2011. Freudenthal previously was the United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming from 1994 to 2001. As of 2025, he is the last Democrat to win and/or hold statewide office in Wyoming.
-
Henry Way Kendall
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teachermountaineer
- Biography
-
Henry Way Kendall was an American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990 jointly with Jerome Isaac Friedman and Richard E. Taylor "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics."
-
Jeffrey A. Hoffman
- Occupations
- academicastronaut
- Biography
-
Jeffrey Alan Hoffman is an American former NASA astronaut and currently a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.
-
Sung-Joo Kim
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
-
Sung-Joo Kim is a South Korean businesswoman. She is the founder of Sungjoo Group and Chairperson of MCM Holding AG.
-
Dan Duquette
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
-
Dan Duquette is an American baseball executive. He is the former general manager of the Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. He is also the founder of the Dan Duquette Sports Academy. He has twice been named the Major League Baseball Executive of the Year by Sporting News (1992 with the Expos and 2014 with the Orioles).
-
William E. Ford
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
William E. Ford is an American businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of General Atlantic, a global investing firm with $96.9 billion in assets under management as of October, 2024.
-
Dwight Morrow
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonlawyerdiplomat
- Biography
-
Dwight Whitney Morrow was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician, best known as the U.S. ambassador who improved U.S.–Mexico relations, mediating the religious conflict in Mexico known as the Cristero rebellion (1926–29), but also contributing to an easing of conflict between the two countries over oil. The Morrow Mission to Mexico was an "important step in the 'retreat from imperialism.' " He was the father of Anne Morrow and father-in-law of Charles A. Lindbergh.
-
David MacLennan
- Occupations
- businesspersonchief executive officer
- Biography
-
David W. MacLennan is an American businessman, the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cargill from 2013 to 2023.
-
B. Alan Wallace
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- Studied in 1984
- Occupations
- translatorteacherwriter
- Biography
-
Bruce Alan Wallace is an American Buddhologist of Tibetan Buddhism and author. He has authored many texts in the field of contemplative science, most notably The Attention Revolution on the cultivation of Samatha, and Dreaming Yourself Awake on the lucid dreaming practice of dream yoga. Wallace's works include an English translation of the foremost Tibetan Buddhism text, the Bardo Thodol, by Padmasambhava. He has also been active in the dialogue between established Western science and Tibetan Buddhist psychology, including staunch critiques of materialistic philosophies of mind. He is founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.
-
Kabayama Aisuke
- Occupations
- samuraipolitician
- Biography
-
Kabayama Aisuke was a Japanese businessman and privy counselor.
-
Lyndsey Scott
- Years
- 1984-.. (age 41)
- Enrolled in Amherst College
- Studied physics, theatre, and economics
- Occupations
- modelmobile application developmentactor
- Biography
-
Lyndsey Scott is an American model and iOS mobile app software developer. She was the first African American to sign an exclusive runway contract with Calvin Klein, and has worked for Gucci, Prada, and Victoria's Secret.
-
Jonatha Brooke
- Occupations
- composersinger-songwriterguitaristsinger
- Biography
-
Jonatha Brooke is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Massachusetts, United States. Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies. She has been a performer, writer, and artist since the late 1980s, and her songs have been used in television shows and movies.
-
Marcy Wheeler
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
-
Marcy Wheeler, long known by the handle "emptywheel", is an American independent journalist specializing in national security and civil liberties. Wheeler publishes on her own site, Emptywheel, established in July 2011. She has reported on United States v. Libby and the investigation of President Donald Trump's connections to Russia, among other national security matters.
-
Peter Franchot
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Peter Van Rensselaer Franchot is an American politician who was the 33rd comptroller of Maryland. A member of the Democratic Party, Franchot served for 20 years in the Maryland House of Delegates representing Takoma Park and Silver Spring. He was elected comptroller in 2006, and was subsequently re-elected three times. Franchot unsuccessfully ran for governor of Maryland in 2022, placing third in the Democratic primary behind Tom Perez and Wes Moore.
-
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor
- Occupations
- photographerjournalistphotojournalist
- Biography
-
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, was the first full-time editor of the National Geographic magazine (1899–1954). Grosvenor is credited with having consolidated the nascent magazine.
-
John Abele
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
John E. Abele is an American businessman and co-founder of Boston Scientific, a medical device company. He received the ASME Medal in 2010 and, as of November 2024, has a net worth of $1.9 billion. He was first listed on the Forbes 400 in 1996 as a self-made billionaire. Although he has given away a significant portion of his wealth, he remains Vermont's only billionaire, residing in Shelburne. Through his private family foundation, the Argosy Foundation, Abele has donated over $130 million to charitable causes since 2001.
-
George Yeh
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
-
George Kung-chao Yeh, also known as Yeh Kung-chao, was a diplomat and politician of the Republic of China. Educated in the U.S. and the U.K., he graduated from Amherst College in 1925 and later Cambridge University. He taught English literature at Beijing's Tsinghua University, where his students included renowned 20th century Chinese writer Ch'ien Chung-shu. He was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs since 1949.
-
Frederick H. Gillett
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Frederick Huntington Gillett was an American politician who served as the 42nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1919 to 1925 and as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1925 to 1931. A Republican, Gillett first began his career in politics when he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1890 to 1891, and would go on to serve in the House from 1893 to 1925. In 1924, he became the oldest individual elected to a first term in the U.S. Senate, a record that he would hold until Peter Welch's victory in the 2022 United States Senate election in Vermont 98 years later.
-
Bruce Fairchild Barton
- Occupations
- politicianwriterentrepreneuressayistphilanthropist
- Biography
-
Bruce Fairchild Barton was an American author, advertising executive, and Republican politician. He represented Manhattan in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1937 to 1941. In 1940, he ran for election to the U.S. Senate, but was defeated by incumbent Senator James M. Mead. During the 1940 campaign, Barton became a high-profile target of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was running for re-election to a third term and identified his opposition with the epithet "Martin, Barton, and Fish!"
-
Paul Rieckhoff
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
-
Paul Rieckhoff is an American writer, social entrepreneur, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He is the president of Righteous Media Inc and the host of the Independent Americans podcast. Prior to that, he was the founder, CEO and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a non-partisan non-profit founded in 2004. He served as an Army first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq from 2003 through 2004. Rieckhoff was released from the Army National Guard in 2007. He is the Karl Lowenstein Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in the Political Science Department at Amherst College, where he designed and taught a class on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, "Understanding 9/11".
-
William H. Hastie
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacherlawyerjudgejurist
- Biography
-
William Henry Hastie Jr. was an American lawyer, judge, educator, public official, and civil rights advocate. He was the first African American to serve as Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, as a federal judge, and as a federal appellate judge. He served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and previously served as District Judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands.
-
Robert Purvis
- Occupations
- civil rights advocate
- Biography
-
Robert Purvis was an American abolitionist in the United States. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and was likely educated at Amherst Academy, a secondary school in Amherst, Massachusetts. He spent most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1833 he helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Library Company of Colored People. From 1845 to 1850 he served as president of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and also traveled to Britain to gain support for the movement.
-
Clay Hart
- Years
- 1942-2022 (aged 80)
- Occupations
- songwriter
- Biography
-
Henry Clay Hart III was an American country music singer and guitarist who was a member of The Lawrence Welk Show television program from 1969 to 1975.
