100 Notable alumni of
University at Buffalo
Updated:
University at Buffalo is 290th in the world, 120th in North America, and 113th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from University at Buffalo sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Jeanine Pirro
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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Jeanine Ferris Pirro is an American television host and author, and is also a former judge, prosecutor, and politician in the state of New York.
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Winston Duke
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Winston Duke is a Tobagonian actor. Duke was born in Tobago and moved to Brooklyn, United States, at age nine.
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John Walsh
- Occupations
- showmanwriterbusinesspersontelevision presenterhuman rights activist
- Biography
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John Edward Walsh, Jr. is an American television presenter, criminologist, victims' rights activist, and the host/creator of America's Most Wanted. He is known for his anti-crime activism, with which he became involved following the murder of his son, Adam, in 1981; in 2008, deceased serial killer Ottis Toole was officially named as Adam's killer. Walsh was part-owner of the now defunct National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C. He also anchored an investigative documentary series, The Hunt with John Walsh, which debuted on CNN in 2014.
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Khalil Mack
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Khalil Delshon Mack is an American professional football linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Buffalo Bulls and was selected by the Oakland Raiders with the fifth overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft.
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Chris Sacca
- Occupations
- entrepreneurinvestor
- Biography
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Christopher Sacca is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund in the United States that has invested in seed and early-stage technology companies such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, and Kickstarter, investments that resulted in his placement as No. 2 on Forbes' Midas List: Top Tech Investors for 2017. Sacca held several positions at Google Inc., where he led the alternative access and wireless divisions and worked on mergers and acquisitions. Between 2015 and 2020, he appeared as a "Guest Shark" on ABC's Shark Tank. In early 2017, Sacca announced that he was retiring from venture investing. In 2021, Sacca announced that he was back into venture investing with a focus on climate issues.
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Wolf Blitzer
- Occupations
- journalistprogram host
- Biography
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Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He has been the host of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer since 2005; previously he served as the network's lead political anchor until 2021.
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Ron Silver
- Occupations
- stage actorwriterproducerfilm producerfilm actor
- Biography
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Ronald Arthur Silver was an American actor, director, producer, radio host, and activist. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded a Tony in 1988 for Best Actor for Speed-the-Plow, a satirical dissection of the American movie business, and was nominated for an Emmy for his recurring role as political strategist Bruno Gianelli in The West Wing.
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Peter Riegert
- Occupations
- film actorscreenwritertelevision actorstage actorfilm director
- Biography
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Peter Riegert is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein in Animal House (1978), oil company executive "Mac" MacIntyre in Local Hero (1983), pickle store owner Sam Posner in Crossing Delancey (1988) and Lt. Mitch Kellaway in The Mask (1994). He directed the short film By Courier (2000), for which he was nominated along with producer Ericka Frederick for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
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Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- 1989-1993 graduated with bachelor's degree in history and political science
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmaajo, is a Somali politician who served as president of Somalia from 2017 to 2022. He was prime minister of Somalia for six months, from November 2010 to June 2011. Mohamed is the founder and leader of the Tayo Party since 2012.
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Maury Chaykin
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-Canadian actor. Described as "one of the most recognizable faces in Canadian cinema," he was best known for his portrayal of Rex Stout's detective Nero Wolfe on the television series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001–2002), as well as for his work as a character actor in many films and television programs.
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Terry Gross
- Occupations
- radio personalitytelevision presenterteacherradio producerjournalist
- Biography
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Terry Gross is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR in 1975, Gross has interviewed thousands of guests.
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Robin Li
- Occupations
- inventorentrepreneurcomputer scientistsoftware engineerbusinessperson
- Biography
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Robin Li Yanhong is a Chinese software engineer and billionaire internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Chinese multinational technology company Baidu. As of June 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$8.6 billion by Forbes.
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Ezekiel Jackson
- Occupations
- professional wrestlerpersonal trainerbodybuilder
- Biography
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Rycklon Edward Stephens is a Guyanese-American professional wrestler, professional wrestling coach, personal trainer, preacher, bodybuilder and actor. He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2007 to 2014, under the ring name Ezekiel Jackson, where he was the final ECW Champion under WWE's ECW brand, as well as a former WWE Intercontinental Champion.
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Jeffrey Wigand
- Occupations
- chemistbiochemistconsultant
- Biography
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Jeffrey Stephen Wigand is an American biochemist and whistleblower.
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Gregory Jarvis
- Occupations
- astronautmilitary officerengineer
- Biography
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Gregory Bruce Jarvis was an American engineer and astronaut who died during the January 28, 1986 destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload specialist for Hughes Aircraft.
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Samuel R. Delany
- Occupations
- literary criticjournalistcartoonistscience fiction writerwriter
- Biography
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Samuel R. "Chip" Delany is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society.
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Brad Grey
- Occupations
- film producerexecutive producertelevision producerscreenwriterentrepreneur
- Biography
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Brad Alan Grey was an American television and film producer. He co-founded Brillstein-Grey Entertainment (now Brillstein Entertainment Partners), and afterwards became the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, a position he held from 2005-2017. Grey graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Management. Under Grey's leadership, Paramount finished No. 1 in global market share in 2011 and No. 2 domestically in 2008, 2009, and 2010, despite releasing significantly fewer films than its competitors. He also produced eight out of Paramount's 10 top-grossing films of all time after having succeeded Sherry Lansing in 2005.
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Peter V. Brett
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
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Peter V. Brett is an American fantasy novelist. He is the author of the Demon Cycle, whose first volume was published in the UK by HarperCollins's Voyager imprint in 2008 as The Painted Man and in the US by Del Rey Books as The Warded Man.
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Silvia Federici
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- Graduated with master's degree
- Occupations
- philosopherwriterwomen's rights activistsocial scientistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Silvia Federici is an Italian-American scholar, teacher, and feminist activist based in New York. She is a professor emerita and teaching fellow at Hofstra University in New York State, where she was a social science professor. She also taught at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria from 1984 to 1986. In 1972, with Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James, she co-founded the International Feminist Collective, the organization that launched the campaign for Wages for Housework. In 1990, Federici co-founded the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa (CAFA), and, with Ousseina Alidou, was the editor of the CAFA bulletin for over a decade. She was also a member of the Academic Association of Africa Scholars (ACAS) and among the voices generating support for the struggles of students across the African continent and in the United States. In 1995, in the course of the campaign to demand the liberation of Mumia Abu-Jamal, she cofounded the Radical Philosophy Association (RPA) anti-death penalty project, an organization intended to help educators become a driving force towards its abolition. From 1979 to 2003, she was a member of the Midnight Notes Collective.
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Bram Cohen
- Occupations
- businesspersonprogrammercomputer scientistmathematicianblogger
- Biography
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Bram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol in 2001, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent. He is also the co-founder of CodeCon and organizer of the San Francisco Bay Area P2P-hackers meeting, was the co-author of Codeville and creator of the Chia cryptocurrency which implements the proof of space-time consensus algorithm.
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David Bellavia
- Occupations
- soldier
- Biography
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David Gregory Bellavia is a former United States Army soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Second Battle of Fallujah. Bellavia has also received the Bronze Star Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, and the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross. In 2005, Bellavia was inducted into the New York Veterans' Hall of Fame. He has subsequently been involved with politics in Western New York State. Upon being awarded the Medal of Honor on June 25, 2019, Bellavia became the first, and currently only living recipient of the Medal of Honor for service during the Iraq War.
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Peter Christopherson
- Occupations
- photographerfilm directorgraphic designerrecord producerdirector
- Biography
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Peter Martin Christopherson was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, who was at one time a member of British design agency Hipgnosis.
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Max Grodénchik
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Max Grodénchik, also known as Michael Grodénchik, is an American stage, film, and television actor, best known for his role as Rom, a recurring character on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
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Michelle Goldberg
- Occupations
- opinion journalistwriterbloggerjournalist
- Biography
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Michelle Goldberg is an American journalist and author, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. She has been a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, a columnist for The Daily Beast and Slate, and a senior writer for The Nation. Her books are Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (2006); The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World (2009); and The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West (2015).
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Shep Gordon
- Occupations
- film producer
- Biography
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Shep E. Gordon is an American talent manager, Hollywood film agent, and producer. Gordon is featured in a 2013 documentary, Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, which was directed by Mike Myers.
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Donald Barthelme
- Occupations
- reportershort story writerwriterchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Donald Barthelme Jr. was an American short story writer and novelist known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the Houston Post, was managing editor of Location magazine, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston (1961–1962), co-founder of Fiction (with Mark Mirsky and the assistance of Max and Marianne Frisch), and a professor at various universities. He also was one of the original founders of the University of Houston Creative Writing Program.
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Taylor Caldwell
- Occupations
- writerscience fiction writernovelistjournalist
- Biography
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Janet Miriam Caldwell was a British-born American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction under the pen names Taylor Caldwell, Marcus Holland and Max Reiner. She was also known by a variation of her married name, J. Miriam Reback.
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Michael Caputo
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- 1983-1986 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in journalism
- Occupations
- lobbyistpoliticianpolitical adviser
- Biography
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Michael Raymon Caputo is an American political strategist and lobbyist. In April 2020, Caputo was appointed as assistant secretary of public affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. He worked for the Reagan Administration with Oliver North, and later as director of media services on the campaign for President George H. W. Bush in the 1992 United States presidential election. Caputo moved to Russia in 1994, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was an adviser to Boris Yeltsin. He worked for Gazprom Media in 2000 where he worked on improving the image of Vladimir Putin in the U.S. He moved back to the U.S. and founded a public relations company, and then moved to Ukraine to work on a candidate's campaign for parliament.
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Howard Kurtz
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Howard Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author and host of Media Buzz on Fox News.
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Keith Buckley
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersinger
- Biography
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Keith Buckley is an American singer, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Many Eyes, the now defunct metalcore band Every Time I Die and the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things. He is also a published author.
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James Starks
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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James Darell Starks is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Buffalo Bulls and was selected by the Packers in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft. He was a member of their Super Bowl XLV championship team that beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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Ishmael Reed
- Occupations
- lyricistsongwriterplaywrightjournalistwriter
- Biography
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Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is Mumbo Jumbo (1972), a sprawling and unorthodox novel set in 1920s New York.
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John Patterson
- Occupations
- actortelevision directorfilm directordirectorcinematographer
- Biography
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John Tiffin Patterson was a television director known for his work on drama series, who also made television films. He directed thirteen episodes of The Sopranos, including the first five season finales. Patterson was born in Buffalo, New York.
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Wilfrid Sellars
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Wilfrid Stalker Sellars was an American philosopher and prominent developer of critical realism, who "revolutionized both the content and the method of philosophy in the United States".
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K. J. Osborn
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Kendrick Osborn Jr. is an American professional football wide receiver for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Buffalo Bulls and Miami Hurricanes prior to being selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL draft. Osborn has also played for the New England Patriots.
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Sharon Salzberg
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Sharon Salzberg is an author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practice in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts, with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Her emphasis is on vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods, and she has been leading meditation retreats around the world for several decades.
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Alan Zweibel
- Occupations
- television producerscreenwriternovelistfilm producerfilm director
- Biography
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Alan Zweibel is an American writer, producer, director, comedian and actor whom The New York Times says has “earned a place in the pantheon of American pop culture." An original Saturday Night Live writer, Zweibel has won five Emmy Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work in television, which includes It's Garry Shandling's Show (co-creator and producer) and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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Liam McHugh
- Years
- 1977-.. (age 48)
- Occupations
- sports commentator
- Biography
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Liam McHugh is an American television sportscaster. He is a studio host for the NHL on TNT and MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. He previously worked on NBC Sports coverage of the NHL as well as Notre Dame Fighting Irish football and NBC Sunday Night Football. He was also perhaps the face of NBCSN, anchoring much of its staple programming, including the NHL, Tour De France, college football, college basketball and the Premier League, prior to joining Turner.
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Ramon Santos
- Occupations
- composermusicologist
- Biography
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Ramón Pagayon Santos is a Filipino composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator known for being the Philippines' foremost living exponent of contemporary Filipino classical music, for work that expounds on "the aesthetic frameworks of Philippine and Southeast Asian artistic traditions," and for finding new uses of indigenous Philippine instruments. A University Professor Emeritus of the composition and theory department at the College of Music of the University of the Philippines Diliman, he was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines for music in 2014.
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Dave Hahn
- Occupations
- mountain guide
- Biography
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David Allen Hahn is an American mountaineer, ski patroller and journalist. In May 2013, he reached the summit of Mount Everest for the 15th time—at the time, this was the most summits for a non-Sherpa climber, according to Outside Magazine contributor and climber Alan Arnette. His record was surpassed by Kenton Cool in 2022. Among Hahn’s other notable accomplishments are his 39 summits of Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain. He has reached the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest peak, 25 times over the course of 37 expeditions.
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Brent Pry
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Brenton James Pry is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach at Virginia Tech. He previously served as the defensive coordinator at Penn State from 2016 to 2021. He played college football for the Buffalo Bulls.
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Ira Flatow
- Occupations
- journalistradio personality
- Biography
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Ira Flatow is a radio and television journalist and author who hosts WNYC Studio's popular program Science Friday. On TV, he hosted the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Newton's Apple, a television science program for children and their families. Later he hosted another PBS series, Big Ideas. He has published several books, the most recent titled Present at the Future: From Evolution to Nanotechnology, Candid and Controversial Conversations on Science and Nature.
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Sidney Farber
- Occupations
- oncologistscientistpediatricianuniversity teacherpathologist
- Biography
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Sidney Farber was an American pediatric pathologist. He is regarded as the father of modern chemotherapy for his work using folic acid antagonists to combat leukemia, which led to the development of other chemotherapeutic agents against other malignancies. Farber was also active in cancer research advocacy and fundraising, such as through his establishment of The Jimmy Fund, a foundation dedicated to pediatric research in childhood cancers. The Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is named after him.
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Peter Weibel
- Occupations
- artistcultural studies scholarwriteruniversity teacherconceptual artist
- Biography
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Peter Weibel was an Austrian post-conceptual artist, curator, and new media theoretician. He started out in 1964 as a visual poet, then later moved from the page to the screen within the sense of post-structuralist methodology. His work includes virtual reality and other digital art forms. From 1999 he was the director of the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.
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Nick Gillespie
- Occupations
- journalistpundit
- Biography
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Nicholas John Gillespie is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined Reason's staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000. He is currently an editor-at-large at Reason.
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Christopher Jacobs
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Christopher Louis Jacobs is an American politician who represented New York's 27th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2020 to 2023. Jacobs served as the 62nd secretary of state of New York from April 2006 to January 2007. Beginning in 2012, he held the post of Erie County clerk, and he was a Republican member of the New York State Senate for the 60th district from 2017 to 2020. On June 23, 2020, he won a special election to fill a congressional vacancy in the 27th district. He was reelected to a full term in November 2020.
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Willie Nile
- Occupations
- recording artistsingercomposersinger-songwriterpianist
- Biography
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Willie Nile is an American singer-songwriter.
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Benjamin Radford
- Occupations
- journalistauthorpodcaster
- Biography
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Benjamin Radford is an American writer, investigator, and skeptic. He has authored, coauthored or contributed to over twenty books and written over a thousand articles and columns on a wide variety of topics including urban legends, unexplained mysteries, the paranormal, critical thinking, mass hysteria, and media literacy. His book, Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment, was published in the summer of 2014 and is a scientific investigation of famous legends and folklore in the state of New Mexico. In 2016 Radford published Bad Clowns, a 2017 IPPY bronze award winner, and he is regarded as an expert on the bad clowns phenomenon.
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Jaret Patterson
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Jaret Patterson is an American professional football running back for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Buffalo before signing with the Washington Commanders, then known as the Washington Football Team, as an undrafted free agent in 2021. Alongside Howard Griffith, Patterson holds the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision record for most rushing touchdowns in a single game with eight.
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Lukas Foss
- Occupations
- composerconductoruniversity teacherpianistclassical composer
- Biography
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Lukas Foss was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor.
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Karin Housley
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Karin Housley is an American politician serving since 2013 as a member of the Minnesota Senate, representing the state's 33rd Senate District. A Republican, she represents Forest Lake, Stillwater, and the surrounding St. Croix Valley. Housley was the party's nominee in Minnesota's 2018 United States Senate special election, which she lost to then-Lieutenant Governor and interim appointee Tina Smith.
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Keith Rothfus
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- In 1984 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Keith James Rothfus /ˈrɒθfəs/ is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district from 2013 to 2019. He succeeded Democratic Representative Mark Critz, whom he defeated in the 2012 election. Prior to serving in Congress, he worked as an attorney. After new congressional district maps were released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in February 2018, Rothfus became a candidate in Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district, where he was defeated for re-election by the incumbent from the 18th district, Democrat Conor Lamb.
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Jesse Cox
- Occupations
- television producerpodcasterYouTuberteacher
- Biography
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Jesse Louis Cox is an American YouTube gaming personality, comedian, voice actor, media commentator and video game producer. He is the owner of the YouTube channel previously named OMFGcata, a gaming channel on which Cox posts most of his content. As of February 2024, the channel has over 1,000,000 subscribers.
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Lin Tzou-yien
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Lin Tzou-yien is a Taiwanese physician. He was the deputy Minister of Health and Welfare and served as acting Minister in October 2014 upon the resignation of Chiu Wen-ta. Upon the appointment of Chiang Been-huang, Lin returned to his previous post until he was promoted again to head the ministry as part of Lin Chuan's incoming cabinet, which took office on 20 May 2016. Lin was succeeded in office by Chen Shih-chung on 7 February 2017.
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Jonathan Akpoborie
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
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Jonathan Akpoborie is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward and spent the majority of his playing career in Germany.
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Alexander Vilenkin
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- In 1977 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- physicistnon-fiction writeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Alexander Vilenkin is the Leonard Jane Holmes Bernstein Professor of Evolutionary Science and Director of the Institute of Cosmology at Tufts University. A theoretical physicist who has been working in the field of cosmology for 25 years, Vilenkin has written over 260 publications.
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Chrysostomos L. “Max” Nikias
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
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Chrysostomos Loizos "Max" Nikias is a Cypriot-American academic, and served as the 11th University of Southern California president, a position he held from August 3, 2010, to August 7, 2018. He holds the Malcolm R. Currie Chair in Technology and the Humanities and is president emeritus of the university. He had been at USC since 1991, as a professor, director of national research centers, dean, provost, and president. He also served as chair of the College Football Playoff (CFP) Board of Managers (2015–2018) as chair of the board of the Keck Medical Center at USC (2009–2018), as member of the board of directors of the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering (2001–2018), and as a member of the board of trustees of the Chadwick School, an independent school in Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif. (2001–2010). He is currently a tenured professor in electrical engineering with a secondary appointment in classics, and the director of the USC Institute for Technology Enabled Higher Education.
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Surya Das
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Surya Das is an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He is a poet, chantmaster, spiritual activist, author of many popular works on Buddhism, meditation teacher and spokesperson for Buddhism in the West. He has long been involved in charitable relief projects in the developing world and in interfaith dialogue.
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Jane McAlevey
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- In 1988 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- university teachertrade unionistauthorsociologist
- Biography
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Jane F. McAlevey was an American union organizer, author, and political commentator. She was a Senior Policy Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, and a columnist at The Nation.
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Herbert A. Hauptman
- Occupations
- chemistuniversity teachercrystallographerphilosophermathematician
- Biography
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Herbert Aaron Hauptman was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in determination of molecular structures of crystallized materials. Today, Hauptman's direct methods, which he continued to improve and refine, are routinely used to solve complicated structures. It was the application of this mathematical method to a wide variety of chemical structures that led the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to name Hauptman and Jerome Karle recipients of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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Branden Oliver
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Branden Oliver is an American former professional football running back. He played college football at Buffalo and signed with the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He played in the NFL for the Chargers and in the Alliance of American Football (AAF) for the Salt Lake Stallions.
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Robert Hass
- Occupations
- literary criticpoetwritertranslatoruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Robert L. Hass is an American poet. He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. He won the 2007 National Book Award and shared the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for the collection Time and Materials: Poems 1997–2005. In 2014 he was awarded the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets.
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Burton C. Andrus
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Colonel Burton Curtis Andrus Sr. was a career U.S. Army officer who served from 1917 through 1952. He was an armor officer for most of his career and his most noted assignment was as the commandant of the Nuremberg Prison which housed the accused during the Nuremberg Trials after World War II.
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Martin Hägglund
- Years
- 1976-.. (age 49)
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teacherliterary scholar
- Biography
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Martin Hägglund is a Swedish philosopher and scholar of modernist literature. He is the Birgit Baldwin Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is also a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows, serving as a Junior Fellow from 2009 to 2012. Hägglund is the author of This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom (2019), Dying for Time: Proust, Woolf, Nabokov (2012), Radical Atheism: Derrida and the Time of Life (2008), and Kronofobi: Essäer om tid och ändlighet (Chronophobia: Essays on Time and Finitude, 2002). He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 and won the René Wellek Prize in 2020. In 2024 Hägglund was awarded Jan Myrdal’s big prize – The Lenin Award.
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Drew Willy
- Occupations
- Canadian football playerAmerican football player
- Biography
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Drew Willy is an American former professional Canadian football quarterback. He was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Buffalo. Willy has also been a member of the Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Locomotives, New York Jets, San Diego Chargers, and most notably the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
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Ellen S. Baker
- Occupations
- astronautphysician
- Biography
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Ellen Louise Shulman Baker is an American physician and a former NASA astronaut. Baker is a veteran of three shuttle flights and logged more than 686 hours in space. Baker served as Chief of the Education/Medical Branch of the NASA Astronaut Office until her retirement in 2011 after more than 30 years of service to NASA.
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Jay Beckenstein
- Occupations
- saxophonistjazz musician
- Biography
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Jay Barnet Beckenstein is an American saxophonist, composer, producer, and the co-founder of the band Spyro Gyra. He owned BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York.
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Tom Murphy
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Thomas James Murphy Jr. is an American professional baseball catcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners. Prior to playing professionally, Murphy played college baseball for the University at Buffalo.
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Steven Means
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Steven Means is an American professional football outside linebacker. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft. He played college football for the University at Buffalo.
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S. Somasegar
- Occupations
- venture capitalistbusiness executive
- Biography
-
Sivaramakichenane Somasegar is an Indian-American technology business executive in the Greater Seattle Area. He is a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm based in Seattle. Somasegar joined Madrona in November 2015 after a 27-year career at Microsoft, where he most recently was corporate vice president of the developer division and overseeing the global distributed R&D centers at Microsoft.
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Tom Hallion
- Occupations
- baseball umpire
- Biography
-
Thomas Francis Hallion is a retired Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the National League (NL) from 1985 to 1999 and in both major leagues from 2005 until 2022. He was promoted to crew chief in 2010. Hallion has worn number 20 during his MLB career. He resigned from the NL in 1999 as part of a failed mass bargaining strategy, but he was rehired by MLB before the 2005 season.
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Mitchell Watt
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
-
Mitchell Watt is an American professional basketball player for Toyama Grouses of the B.League. He played college basketball for the University at Buffalo, where he was an All-American and Mid-American Conference (MAC) player of the year.
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Robert Peter Gale
- Occupations
- oncologistphysicianuniversity teacherinternisthematologist
- Biography
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Robert Peter Gale is an American physician and medical researcher. He is known for research in leukemia and other bone marrow disorders (such as aplastic anemia).
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Dave Weldon
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- In 1978 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- In 1981 graduated with Doctor of Medicine
- Occupations
- politicianphysician
- Biography
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David Joseph Weldon is an American politician and physician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Florida's 15th congressional district, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in Florida's 2012 U.S. Senate race.
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Stephanie Miner
- Enrolled in University at Buffalo
- Graduated with Juris Doctor
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
-
Stephanie Ann Miner is an American attorney, politician, and former Mayor of Syracuse, New York. Miner served as Mayor of Syracuse from 2010 to 2018, and is the first woman to have held that office. Prior to her mayoralty, she was a member of the Syracuse City Council. Miner co-chaired the New York State Democratic Party from 2012 to 2014. In 2018, Miner ran unsuccessfully for Governor of New York on the newly created Serve America Movement line.
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Jake Schum
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
-
Jacob Schum is an American football punter who is a free agent. He played college football at Buffalo. Schum was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2013. He has also been a member of the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Vipers.
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William Lawvere
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
-
Francis William Lawvere was an American mathematician known for his work in category theory, topos theory and the philosophy of mathematics.
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Christopher Scolese
- Biography
-
Christopher J. Scolese is an American engineer and intelligence official serving as the director of the National Reconnaissance Office. He was appointed the 19th director of the National Reconnaissance Office on August 1, 2019. Scolese was sworn into office on August 5, 2019.
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Elliott Sharp
- Occupations
- film score composermusiciansaxophonistcomposerjazz guitarist
- Biography
-
Elliott Sharp is an American contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, author, and visual artist.
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Susan Howe
- Occupations
- writerpoetessayistcritic
- Biography
-
Susan Howe is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements. Her work is often classified as Postmodern because it expands traditional notions of genre (fiction, essay, prose and poetry). Many of Howe's books are layered with historical, mythical, and other references, often presented in an unorthodox format. Her work contains lyrical echoes of sound, and yet is not pinned down by a consistent metrical pattern or a conventional poetic rhyme scheme.
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Bobby Shuttleworth
- Occupations
- association football player
- Biography
-
Robert "Bobby" Shuttleworth is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper for multiple teams in MLS and USL Championship.
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Raven Baxter
- Occupations
- science communicatormolecular biologisteducator
- Biography
-
Raven Baxter is an American science communicator and STEM educator. Baxter began posting science education videos on social media under the username Raven the Science Maven in 2017.
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Shannon Evans
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
-
Shannon Evans II is an American-Guinean basketball player for MoraBanc Andorra of the Spanish Liga ACB. He competed in college for Buffalo and Arizona State. His nickname is Shannito.
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Paul L. Friedman
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
-
Paul Lawrence Friedman is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He serves as secretary of the American Law Institute.
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Roman Yampolskiy
- Occupations
- computer scientist
- Biography
-
Roman Vladimirovich Yampolskiy is a Latvian computer scientist at the University of Louisville, mostly known for his work on AI safety and cybersecurity. He holds a PhD from the University at Buffalo (2008). He is the founder and current director of Cyber Security Lab, in the department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the Speed School of Engineering of the University of Louisville.
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Van Miller
- Years
- 1927-2015 (aged 88)
- Occupations
- sports commentator
- Biography
-
Van Miller was an American radio and television sports announcer from Dunkirk, New York, where he began his career at Dunkirk radio station WFCB calling play-by-play for high school football games. In the 1950s, he moved to Buffalo where he became the chief play-by-play announcer for the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, the official radio broadcasting arm of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League from the team's inception as an AFL team in 1960 to 1971, and again from 1977 to 2003. At the time of his retirement in 2003, Miller was the longest-tenured commentator with one team (37 years) in pro football history.
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Bob Budiansky
- Occupations
- penciller
- Biography
-
Bob Budiansky is an American comic book writer, editor, and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel's Transformers comic. He also created the Marvel character Sleepwalker and wrote all 33 issues of that comic.
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Sharon A. Hill
- Years
- 1970-.. (age 55)
- Occupations
- science writergeologistblogger
- Biography
-
Sharon A. Hill is an American science writer and speaker known for her research into the interaction between science and the public, focusing on education and media topics. Hill's research has dealt mainly with paranormal, pseudoscience, and strange natural phenomena and began at the University at Buffalo, where she performed her graduate work in this area. Hill attended Pennsylvania State University, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in geosciences and working as a Pennsylvania geologist.
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George Whitney Calhoun
- Occupations
- newspaper editor
- Biography
-
George Whitney Calhoun was an American newspaper editor and co-founder of the Green Bay Packers, a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After establishing the Packers in 1919 with Curly Lambeau, Calhoun served the team in various capacities for 44 years until his death in 1963. Utilizing his editorial job at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, he became the team's first publicity director, helping to establish local support and interest. He also served as the first team manager and was a member of the board of directors of the non-profit corporation that owns the team. Although often overshadowed by the more famous Curly Lambeau, Calhoun was instrumental to the early success of the Packers. In recognition of his contributions, Calhoun was elected to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1978.
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Tom Toles
- Years
- 1951-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- journalistcartoonist
- Biography
-
Thomas Gregory Toles is a retired American political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. His cartoons typically presented progressive viewpoints. Similar to Oliphant's use of his character Punk, Toles also tended to include a small doodle, usually a small caricature of himself at his desk, in the margin of his strip.
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Cam Lewis
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
-
Cameron Lewis is an American professional football cornerback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He played college football at the University at Buffalo.
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Josh Thomas
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
-
Josh Thomas is an American former professional football cornerback. He was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft. He played college football at the University at Buffalo.
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Fern Mallis
- Years
- 1948-.. (age 77)
- Occupations
- businesspersonfashion designer
- Biography
-
Fern Mallis was the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) from 1991 to 2001, and created 7th on Sixth productions or New York Fashion Week as it is known today. She was also senior vice president of IMG Fashion from 2001 to 2010. Mallis is currently president of her own international fashion and design consultancy, Fern Mallis LLC. She received her BFA from University at Buffalo.
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S. J. Rozan
- Occupations
- poetscreenwriternovelistwriterarchitect
- Biography
-
S. J. Rozan is an American architect and writer of detective fiction and thrillers, based in New York City. She also co-writes a paranormal thriller series under the pseudonym Sam Cabot with Carlos Dews.
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Albert James Myer
- Occupations
- military officer
- Biography
-
Albert James Myer was a surgeon and United States Army general. He is known as the father of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, as its first chief signal officer just prior to the American Civil War, the inventor of wig-wag signaling (or aerial telegraphy), and also as the father of the U.S. Weather Bureau.
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Chuck Hammer
- Born in
-
United States - Occupations
- composer
- Biography
-
Chuck Hammer is an American guitarist and soundtrack composer, known for textural guitar work with Lou Reed, David Bowie, and Guitarchitecture. As an artist, Hammer is best known for his Guitarchitecture recordings, though he is also widely regarded as a leading New York City based soundtrack composer, having scored approximately 300 documentary films. He is currently developing a series of improvisational textural guitar recordings.
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C. J. Massinburg
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
-
Christian Jalon Massinburg is an American professional basketball player for Bahçeşehir Koleji of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL) and EuroCup. He played college basketball for the Buffalo Bulls. He was named the 2019 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. He previously played for the Long Island Nets of the NBA G League and Limoges CSP of the LNB Pro A.
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Naaman Roosevelt
- Occupations
- Canadian football playerAmerican football player
- Biography
-
Naaman I. Roosevelt is an American former professional football wide receiver who is currently the receivers coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). During his playing career, he was a member of the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Montreal Alouettes, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He played college football for the Buffalo Bulls.
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Daniel Barwick
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
Daniel Workman Barwick is an American author, fundraiser, journalist, podcaster, higher education administrator, and teacher. He was the President of Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas.
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Jim McNally
- Occupations
- coach
- Biography
-
Jim McNally is an American former football coach, whose 28-year professional coaching career in the National Football League (NFL) included tenures with the Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers and New York Giants before retiring following a four-year stint with the Buffalo Bills.
