58 Notable alumni of
Knox College
Updated:
Knox College is 1250th in the world, 441st in North America, and 413th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 58 notable alumni from Knox College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
-
Robert Hanssen
- Enrolled in Knox College
- In 1966 graduated with bachelor's degree in chemistry
- Occupations
- spymolegovernment agent
- Biography
-
Robert Philip Hanssen was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1979 to 2001. His espionage was described by the U.S. Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history".
-
John Podesta
- Occupations
- lawyerlobbyistpolitician
- Biography
-
John David Podesta Jr. is an American political consultant who served as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy from 2024 to 2025, having previously served as Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation from 2022 to 2025. Podesta previously served as White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1998 to 2001 and counselor to President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2015. Before that, he served in the Clinton administration as White House staff secretary from 1993 to 1995 and White House deputy chief of staff for operations from 1997 to 1998.
-
Amy Carlson
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Amy Lynn Carlson is an American actress known for her roles as Linda Reagan in the CBS police procedural Blue Bloods, Alex Taylor on the NBC drama Third Watch, and Josie Watts in the NBC daytime soap opera Another World.
-
Gene Rayburn
- Occupations
- television presenterannouncergame show hostactorradio personality
- Biography
-
Gene Rayburn was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show Match Game for over two decades.
-
Vir Das
- Occupations
- television directorfilm actorcomedianfilm directortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Vir Das is an Indian comedian, actor and musician. After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved to Hindi cinema starring in films like Badmaash Company (2010), Delhi Belly (2011), and Go Goa Gone (2013) in supporting roles. In 2017, he performed the Netflix special Abroad Understanding. Das has appeared in approximately 35 plays, over 100 stand-up comedy shows, 18 films, eight TV shows and six comedy specials. He has written comedic columns for Femina, Maxim, Exotica, DNA and Tehelka. In 2019, he made his debut in American television with the television series, Whiskey Cavalier. He won the 2023 International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series for the Netflix comedy special Vir Das: Landing.
-
Elizabeth Eckford
- Occupations
- activist
- Biography
-
Elizabeth Ann Eckford is an American civil rights activist and one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The integration came as a result of the 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education. Eckford's public experience was captured by press photographers on the morning of September 4, 1957, after she was prevented from entering the school by the Arkansas National Guard. A dramatic snapshot by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat showed the young girl being followed by an angry white group; this and other photos of the day's startling events were circulated around the US and the world by the press.
-
John Buford
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
-
John Buford Jr. was a United States Army cavalry officer. He fought for the Union during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. Buford is best known for his actions in the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, by identifying Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge as high ground that would be crucial in the impending battle, and by placing vedettes (the cavalry equivalent of "picket lines") to the west and north that delayed the enemy long enough for the Union Army to arrive.
-
Dorothea Tanning
- Occupations
- sculptordraftspersonprintmakernovelistpainter
- Biography
-
Dorothea Margaret Tanning was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Her early work was influenced by Surrealism.
-
Charles Eastman
- Occupations
- ombudsmanwriterautobiographerfolkloristphysician
- Biography
-
Charles Alexander Eastman was an American physician, writer, and social reformer. He was "one of the most prolific authors and speakers on Sioux ethnohistory and American Indian affairs" in the early 20th century.
-
Edgar Lee Masters
- Occupations
- playwrightpoetlawyerwriternovelist
- Biography
-
Edgar Lee Masters was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology (1915), The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness, An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman.
-
Whitcomb L. Judson
- Occupations
- inventorengineer
- Biography
-
Whitcomb L. Judson was an American machine salesman, mechanical engineer and inventor. He received thirty patents over a sixteen-year career, fourteen of which were on pneumatic street railway innovations. Six of his patents had to do with a motor mechanism suspended beneath the rail-car that functioned with compressed air. He founded the Judson Pneumatic Street Railway.
-
Eugene Field
- Occupations
- editorwriterjournalistchildren's writerpoet
- Biography
-
Eugene Field Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood".
-
Ellen Browning Scripps
- Occupations
- writerbusinesspersonjournalist
- Biography
-
Ellen Browning Scripps was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E.W. Scripps created the E.W. Scripps Company, America's largest chain of newspapers, linking Midwestern industrial cities with booming towns in the West. By the 1920s, Ellen Browning Scripps was worth an estimated $30 million (or $3 billion in 2024 dollars), most of which she gave away.
-
Don Marquis
- Occupations
- playwrighthumoristfilm directorjournalistpoet
- Biography
-
Donald Robert Perry Marquis was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters Archy and Mehitabel, Archy being a supposed author of humorous verse. During his lifetime he was equally famous for creating another fictitious character, "the Old Soak," who was the subject of two books, a hit Broadway play (1922–23), a silent film (1926) and a talkie (1937).
-
Hiram Rhodes Revels
- Enrolled in Knox College
- Studied in 1855-1857
- Occupations
- politicianreligious leader
- Biography
-
Hiram Rhodes Revels was an American Republican politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. Elected by the Mississippi legislature to the United States Senate as a Republican to represent Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era, he was the first African American to serve in either house of the U.S. Congress.
-
Margaret A. Ryan
- Enrolled in Knox College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in political science
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
-
Margaret Ann "Meg" Ryan is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. She joined the court in 2006 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. Her term expired on July 31, 2020.
-
Ralph Waldo Trine
- Occupations
- historianphilosopherwriter
- Biography
-
Ralph Waldo Trine was an American New Thought writer, philosopher and animal welfare activist.
-
Robert F. Spetzler
- Occupations
- neurosurgeon
- Biography
-
Robert F. Spetzler is a neurosurgeon and the J.N. Harber Chairman Emeritus of Neurological Surgery and director emeritus of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He retired as an active neurosurgeon in July 2017. He is also Professor of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona.
-
Otto Harbach
- Occupations
- librettistscreenwritersongwriterjournalistlyricist
- Biography
-
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broadway composers of the early 20th century, including Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, and Sigmund Romberg.
-
S. S. McClure
- Occupations
- journalistpublisher
- Biography
-
Samuel Sidney McClure was an American publisher who became known as a key figure in investigative, or muckraking, journalism. He co-founded and ran McClure's Magazine from 1893 to 1911, which ran numerous exposées of wrongdoing in business and politics, such as those written by Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, and Lincoln Steffens. The magazine ran fiction and nonfiction by the leading writers of the day, including Sarah Orne Jewett, Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Joel Chandler Harris, Jack London, Stephen Crane, William Allen White and Willa Cather.
-
Don Harmon
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Don Harmon is an American attorney and president of the Illinois Senate since 2020. A member of the Democratic party, he has represented 39th Senate District since 2003. His district includes Chicago's Austin neighborhood and the suburbs of Oak Park, Addison, Bensenville, Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Melrose Park, Northlake, River Grove, Rosemont, Schiller Park, and Stone Park.
-
Bob Kiss
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Bob Kiss is an American politician and former mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Kiss was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from January 2001 until he stepped down to assume office as mayor of Burlington, following his election to that office in March 2006. He is a member of the Vermont Progressive Party. Kiss won re-election in 2009, and was endorsed by Vermont's Independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. In November 2011, Kiss announced that he would not seek re-election in the 2012 Burlington mayoral election.
-
Earnest Elmo Calkins
- Occupations
- advertising person
- Biography
-
Earnest Elmo Calkins was a deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising, of fictional characters, the soft sell, and the idea of "consumer engineering". He co-founded the influential Calkins & Holden advertising agency. His work was recognized with many awards during his lifetime and was called the "Dean of Advertising Men" and "arguably the single most important figure in early twentieth century graphic design."
-
Charles William Gordon
- Occupations
- novelistpastorwriter
- Biography
-
Charles William Gordon, CMG, also known as Ralph Connor, was a Canadian novelist, using the Connor pen name while maintaining his status as a church leader, first in the Presbyterian and later the United Church in Canada.
-
Joseph J. Sisco
- Occupations
- diplomatcolumnistacademic administrator
- Biography
-
Joseph John Sisco was a diplomat who played a major role in then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East. His career in the State Department spanned five presidential administrations.
-
Julie Morrison
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Julie A. Morrison is a member of the Illinois Senate from the 29th district. The 29th district includes all or parts of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Bannockburn, Deerfield, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook and North Chicago. Prior to her service in the Illinois Senate, she was the West Deerfield Township Supervisor.
-
John Huston Finley
- Occupations
- writernewspaper editorjournalisteditor
- Biography
-
John Huston Finley was Professor of Polities at Princeton University from 1900 to 1903, and President of the City College of New York from 1903 until 1913, when he was appointed President of the University of the State of New York and Commissioner of Education of the State of New York. A promenade along the western bank of the East River between 63rd Street and 125th Street in Manhattan was named the John Finley Walk in 1940 because he had often walked the perimeter of Manhattan.
-
Peter Cozzens
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 69)
- Occupations
- historianmilitary commanderwriter
- Biography
-
Peter Cozzens is an American historian and retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer. He has written and/or edited over seventeen books on the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
-
George S. Benson
- Occupations
- missionary
- Biography
-
George Stuart Benson was an American missionary, college administrator, and conservative political activist. After fleeing communist uprisings in China as a missionary, Benson became an anticommunist and conservative activist, taking stances against the New Deal, and later, racial integration. Benson served for many years as the president of Harding College, and oversaw a large propaganda network through his National Education Program, which sponsored short cartoons, "Freedom Forums" (gatherings of business people to promote the American way), and lecture tours for Benson.
-
Joe Moore
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Joseph A. Moore is a former Chicago politician. Moore was first elected to Chicago City Council as the alderman for the 49th ward, which includes the majority of Rogers Park and portions of West Ridge, in 1991. Moore won re-election six times, before losing to challenger Maria Hadden in 2019.
-
Don Samuelson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Donald William Samuelson was an American Republican politician who served as the 25th governor of Idaho, from 1967 to 1971. He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid (1970).
-
Henry Thomas Rainey
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
-
Henry Thomas Rainey was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party from Illinois, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1921 and from 1923 to his death in 1934. He rose to Speaker of the House, during the famous Hundred days of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
-
Zack Stephenson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Zack Stephenson is an American politician who has served since 2019 as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and since 2025 as the House leader of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). He represents District 35A in the northwestern Twin Cities metropolitan area.
-
John Sanborn Phillips
- Occupations
- editorbusinesspersonjournalist
- Biography
-
John Sanborn Phillips attended Knox College in Illinois, where he worked on the student newspaper and met S. S. McClure. After earning an associate's degree, he entered Harvard College as a junior, and graduated in 1885, magna cum laude. In 1887 McClure hired him to manage the home office of the McClure Newspaper Syndicate (founded in 1884).
-
Ander Monson
- Occupations
- poetnovelist
- Biography
-
Ander Monson is an American novelist, poet, and nonfiction writer.
-
David P. Fridovich
- Born in
-
United States - Occupations
- soldier
- Biography
-
David P. Fridovich is a retired lieutenant general and Green Beret in the United States Army. His position at the time of retirement was deputy commander of the U.S. military's United States Special Operations Command that directs special operations campaigns.
-
Alson Streeter
- Occupations
- minerfarmerpolitician
- Biography
-
Alson Jenness Streeter was an American farmer, miner and politician who was the Union Labor Party nominee in the United States presidential election of 1888. He was also an early member of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry following its foundation in the 1860s and supported Granger Laws while in office.
-
Mikaela Kumlin Granit
- Years
- 1967-.. (age 59)
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
-
Mikaela Ruth Gunilla Kumlin Granit is a Swedish diplomat who has been the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the European Union since 2023.
-
Shu Kitamura
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
-
Shu Kitamura is a Hong Kong former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or a right back.
-
Lorenzo D. Lewelling
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Lorenzo Dow Lewelling was the 12th governor of Kansas.
-
Edgar Addison Bancroft
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
-
Edgar Addison Bancroft was an American lawyer and diplomat. He served as United States Ambassador to Japan from 1924 to 1925.
-
John L. Kennedy
- Occupations
- lawyerbusinesspersonpolitician
- Biography
-
John Lauderdale Kennedy was an American Republican Party politician.
-
Albinus Nance
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Albinus Roberts Nance was an American politician. He served as a soldier during the American Civil War, and as the fourth governor of Nebraska.
-
Robert Bruce Chiperfield
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Robert Bruce Chiperfield, son of United States Congressman Burnett Mitchell Chiperfield, was an Illinois lawyer and 12-term U.S. Representative from Illinois. He served as chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during the early years of the Eisenhower administration.
-
Matt Berg
- Years
- 1978-.. (age 48)
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
Matt Berg is the CEO of Ona, which he co-founded with Peter Lubell-Doughtie, Ukang'a Dickson and Roger Wong. Previously, he was the ICT Director for the Millennium Villages Project at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, the Technology Director for ChildCount+, and a member of Columbia University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering research group in the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. In 2010 Berg was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People of the World.
-
Ezekiel S. Sampson
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
-
Ezekiel Silas Sampson was a lawyer, prosecutor, Civil War officer, judge, and two-term Republican Congressman from Iowa's 6th congressional district.
-
George Radcliffe Colton
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
George Radcliffe Colton was an American politician and civil servant. He served in the Nebraska House of Representatives and as governor of Puerto Rico from November 6, 1909, to November 15, 1913, a position to which he was appointed by President William Howard Taft.
-
B. J. Hollars
- Occupations
- university teachereditorwriter
- Biography
-
B.J. Hollars is an American author of literary essays and nonfiction novels. Hollars is professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a columnist for the Leader-Telegram.
-
Harry Archer
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
-
Harry Archer was an American composer and orchestra leader. He is best remembered for six Broadway shows from the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 20th-century, but also made several popular recordings in the 1920s for Brunswick Records.
-
Charles Wesley Leffingwell
- Years
- 1840-1928 (aged 88)
- Biography
-
Charles Wesley Leffingwell was an American author, educator, and Episcopal priest.
-
George Helgesen Fitch
- Occupations
- satiristjournalistpoliticianhumorist
- Biography
-
George Helgesen Fitch was an American author, humorist, and journalist perhaps best known for his stories about fictional Siwash College.
-
Benton Jay Hall
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Benton Jay "Ben" Hall was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district in southeastern Iowa.
-
Linda Langston
- Years
- 1953-.. (age 73)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Linda Langston is director of strategic relations for the National Association of Counties in Washington, D.C., US. Prior to that Langston was a member of the Linn County Board of Supervisors. She also serves as the co-chair of the Resilient America Roundtable for the National Academy of Sciences and is on the national advisory council for FEMA. She was elected in November 2002 and took office the following January. Prior to her public service, she was the executive director of the History Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the executive director of the Linn Mar School Foundation. While living in Chicago and Tulsa, she maintained a private practice in psychotherapy.
-
Stephen V. White
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Stephen Van Culen White was a U.S. Representative from New York.
-
James E. Defebaugh
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
James E. Defebaugh III was a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1971 to 1982.
-
William E. Phelps
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
-
William Edwin Phelps was an American politician from Peoria County, Illinois. During the Civil War, he served as Consulate General of Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1868, he was elected to one term in the Illinois House of Representatives.
-
John Poage Williamson
- Occupations
- missionarywriterpolitician
- Biography
-
John Poage Williamson was an American missionary, politician, and writer.
-
Charles Edward Swanson
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Charles Edward Swanson served two terms as a Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 9th congressional district. His congressional career ended in the landslide that accompanied the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to his first term as president.
