List of Williams College people

Williams College

Motto	E liberalitate E. Williams, armigeri
Type	Private
Established	1793  (1793)
President	Adam Falk
Undergraduates	1,945
Postgraduates	59
Location	Williamstown , Massachusetts , United States
Campus	Rural
Athletics	Ephs
Mascot	Purple cow
Website	www.williams.edu

Because of a history dating back to 1793 and a consistent reputation as a leading institution of higher learning, there is a long list of Williams College people – students who attended the school and achieved notability in a wide variety of fields.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Academia

See also: List of Williams College presidents

A–G

• Richard T. Antoun 1953, anthropologist specializing in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies who was murdered in 2009 by a graduate student at Binghamton University
• Bernard Bailyn 1945, early American historian and professor at Harvard University
• John Bascom 1849, Williams professor and president of the University of Wisconsin–Madison; namesake of Williams' Bascom House and Bascom Lodge atop Mount Greylock
• James Phinney Baxter III 1914, president of Williams College from 1937–1961 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1947; namesake of Williams' Baxter Fellow residential program
• Michael Beschloss 1977, called "the nation's leading presidential historian" by Newsweek
• Julian Charles Boyd 1952, linguist, reputed for his expertise on modality in English, as well as for his pedagogical excellence at the University of California, Berkeley, where he spent most of his academic career as Professor of English and Director of the English Language Program
• Sterling Allen Brown 1922, African-American teacher, literary critic, and poet
• James MacGregor Burns 1939, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
• Paul Chadbourne 1848, President of University of Wisconsin, Williams College, and University of Massachusetts
• Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Rabbi and Professor of Jewish Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter
• Robert Coombe 1970, Chancellor, University of Denver
• Albert Hewett Coons 1933, Professor of Pathology & Immunology at Harvard Medical School; recipient of 1959 Albert Lasker Award
• Allison Davis 1924, sociologist
• John Aubrey Davis, Sr. 1933, political science professor and civil rights activist instrumental to the Brown vs. Board of Education legal team
• Anna Christina De Ozorio Nobre 1985, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford
• Daniel Drezner 1990, professor at Tufts University, political commentator
• Amos Eaton 1799, co-founder of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Robert F. Engle 1964, won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics "for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility" (ARCH models); holds the Armellino Chair at New York University; graduated with highest honors in Physics
• Willard F. Enteman 1959, former president of Bowdoin College
• S. Lane Faison 1929, art historian
• Kristin Forbes 1992, Associate Professor of International Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management; member of Council of Economic Advisers (confirmed by the United States Senate in 2003, she is the youngest person to ever hold this position)
• Theodore Friend 1952, former president of Swarthmore College

G–M

• Edward Gramlich 1961, economics professor at University of Michigan and member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
• Keith Griffin 1960, former president of Magdalen College, Oxford
• Catharine Hill 1976, president of Vassar College
• Henry Hopkins 1858, President of Williams College
• Mark Hopkins 1824; cited in former U.S. president James A. Garfield's description of an ideal college: "Give me a log hut, with only a simple bench, Mark Hopkins on one end and I on the other, and you may have all the buildings..."
• James Willard Hurst 1932, founder of the modern field of American legal history
• Thomas H. Jackson 1972, President of University of Rochester, 1994–2005
• Harry Pratt Judson 1870, President of the University of Chicago, 1906–1923
• Walter Kaufmann 1941, philosopher, poet, and translator
• Leonard Woods Labaree 1920, chair of the history department at Yale and Connecticut State Historian
• Frederick M. Lawrence 1977, President, Brandeis University, former Dean, George Washington University Law School
• Roger Sherman Loomis 1909, medieval and Arthurian literature scholar
• James Maas 1961, Professor of Psychology at Cornell and leading sleep researcher
• Curtis T. McMullen 1980, Professor of Mathematics at Harvard and winner of the 1998 Fields Medal for his work in complex dynamics
• Barrington Moore Jr. 1936, leading figure in comparative politics; professor at Harvard
• Richard Murnane 1966, economist; Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Daniel Muzyka 1975, Dean of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia
• Stewart Myers 1967, Professor of Financial Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management

N–Z

• William Ouchi 1965, professor and author in the field of business management
• Arthur Latham Perry 1852, economist
• Earl Potter III 1968, President of St. Cloud State University
• Eric Reeves 1972, Sudan scholar
• Thomas Hedley Reynolds 1942, 5th President of Bates College
• Zalmon Richards 1836, educator, co-founder and first president of the National Education Association
• David Ruder 1951, Professor and former Dean, Northwestern University School of Law, and former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• Bruce Russett 1956, Professor of Political Science Yale University, leading figure in international relations
• James C. Scott 1958, Sterling Professor of Political Science and director of Agrarian Studies at Yale University
• David Newton Sheldon 1830, fifth President of Colby College
• Francis H. Snow 1868, Chancellor of the University of Kansas
• David Spadafora 1972, former President, Lake Forest College, current President, Newberry Library
• Clayton Spencer 1977, President of Bates College, 2011–present
• Herbert Stein 1935, former Chair, Council of Economic Advisers (and father of Ben Stein)
• Lester Thurow 1960, the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management and Economics, and former Dean (1987–1993), MIT Sloan School of Management
• Richard Warch 1961, president of Lawrence University

Actors, artists, and filmmakers

A–M

• Sebastian Arcelus 1999, film and theater actor
• Purva Bedi 1996, film and television actress
• Charles William Brackett 1915, Academy Award-winning screenwriter; President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
• Gordon Clapp 1971, Emmy Award-winning actor on NYPD Blue
• Bud Collyer, radio actor and game show host
• Monique Curnen 1992, film and television actress
• Walker Evans 1926, photographer, noted especially for work for the Farm Securities Administration during the Great Depression; dropped out after his freshman year
• Keith Fowler, faculty 1964–1968, artistic director of the Virginia Museum Theater, the American Revels Company; theater professor at the University of California, Irvine
• John Frankenheimer 1951, director of films including The Manchurian Candidate
• Crispin Freeman 1994, voice actor
• Max Gail 1965, actor
• A. R. Gurney 1952, playwright, including The Dining Room and Sylvia
• Tao Ho 1960, architect
• Wendy W. Jacob 1980, artist
• Liza Johnson 1992, film director and professor of art
• David Bar Katz 1989, Emmy Award- and Tony Award-nominated theater and television writer and director
• Elia Kazan 1931, writer and Academy Award-winning director of Gentleman's Agreement and On the Waterfront as well as other films including A Streetcar Named Desire
• Leslie Keno 1979, appraiser for Antiques Roadshow; furniture designer
• Art Lande 1968, jazz pianist
• Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle 1983, artist
• Carolyn McCormick 1981, actress
• Ralph Eugene Meatyard, attended 1943–1944, photographer
• Richard Murphy 1934, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter

N–Z

• Barbara Prey 1979, watercolor artist; member of National Council on the Arts
• John Sayles 1972, Hollywood genre writer and director of independent films including Lone Star and Eight Men Out
• Peter Simon, stage and television actor
• Stephen Sondheim 1950, composer and lyricist for stage and screen; composer for Broadway musical theatre
• Fletcher Steele 1907, landscape architect
• Paul Stekler 1974, documentarian
• Jon Stone 1952, writer, director and co-creator of Sesame Street
• David Strathairn 1970, Academy Award-nominated actor; performed in Sneakers, Dolores Claiborne, Memphis Belle, L.A. Confidential, and Good Night, and Good Luck
• Paul Stupin 1979, television and film producer
• Jamie Tarses 1985, television producer and executive
• Jay Tarses 1961, television, film and radio writer, producer and actor
• Camille Utterback 1992, interactive installation artist; MacArthur Foundation's "genius award" winner
• Leehom Wang 1998, singer, songwriter, actor, director
• Martha Williamson 1977, producer, Touched by an Angel
• Frederick Wiseman 1951, director of documentaries including Titicut Follies

Business

A–M

• Javed Ahmed 1982, Chief Executive, Tate & Lyle
• Herbert A. Allen, Jr. 1962, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allen & Company, a privately held investment firm and host of a storied annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho
• JJ Augenbraun 2011, Chief Recruiter and Visionary at EnergySavvy
• Charles Tracy Barney 1858, President of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, a prominent New York trust which failed in the Panic of 1907
• R. C. Bhargava, former CEO and current chairman of Indian automobile company Maruti Suzuki
• Edgar Bronfman, Sr. 1950, Chairman and CEO of Seagram Company Inc (the international beverage conglomerate and parent company of Warner Music and Universal Pictures)
• Bruce Bullen 1970, government and health care executive; former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc.
• Steve Case 1980, founder and former CEO of America Online
• Chase Coleman 1997, founder and president of Tiger Global Management
• Peter Currie 1978, president of Currie Capital and former CFO of Netscape
• John D'Agostino 1997, youngest VP in history of New York Mercantile Exchange, and subject of the Ben Mezrich book Rigged, the True Story of an Ivy League Kid who Changed the World of Oil
• Michael R. Eisenson 1977, founder and CEO of Charlesbank Capital Partners
• Neil Fiske 1984, President and CEO of Eddie Bauer
• Paul Fitchen 1922, Federal Reserve Bank
• Adena Friedman 1991, President of NASDAQ OMX
• David Gow 1985, owner and chairman of Gow Broadcasting and Yahoo Sports Radio
• Ole Andreas Halvorsen 1986, founder and chief investment officer of Viking Global Investors
• Willem J. "Hans" Humes 1987, founder and chief investment officer of Greylock Capital Management
• James B. Lee 1975, Vice Chairman of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
• Herbert H. Lehman 1899, co-founder and former CEO of Lehman Brothers Investment Bank, Governor and U.S Senator for New York
• Robert I. Lipp 1960, Chairman and CEO of Travelers Property Casualty Corp.
• Barry McCarthy 1975, venture capitalist and former CFO of Netflix
• John B. McCoy 1965, former CEO of Bank One
• Ajata "AJ" Mediratta 1987, co-president at Greylock Capital Management

N–Z

• Mariam Naficy 1991, founder and CEO of Eve.com and Minted
• Robert Nutting 1983, Chairman of the Board and Principal Owner of Pittsburgh Pirates; Chairman and CEO of Odgen Newspapers and Nutting Newspapers
• Clarence Otis, Jr. 1977, CEO of Darden Restaurants
• David Paresky 1960, former president of Thomas Cook Travel
• Patrick S. Parker 1951, former CEO and Chairman of Parker Hannifin
• Bo Peabody 1994, founder of Tripod (sold to Lycos in 1998 for $64 million) and Chairman of Village Ventures
• Joseph L. Rice III 1954, founder of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc., private equity investment firm and Trustee Emeritus of Williams College
• Mayo Shattuck III 1976, President and CEO of Constellation Energy Group and former Chairman of Alex Brown, LLC
• Walter V. Shipley 1957, former president of Chemical Bank
• Henry R. Silverman 1961, Chairman and CEO of Cendant Corporation
• Mark Sisson 1975, CEO of Primal Nutrition
• George Steinbrenner 1952, owner of the New York Yankees
• Hal Steinbrenner 1991, principal owner, managing general partner and co-chairman of the New York Yankees
• Jamie Tarses 1985, former President, ABC Entertainment
• Frederick Ferris Thompson 1854, bank founder
• Elizabeth Visconti 2013, founder and president of LizViscontiSolutions.com, a leading provider of bidness solutions
• Peter Willmott 1959, former president and Chief Operating Officer of FedEx, former C.E.O. of Carson Pirie Scott and Zenith Electronics; Chairman of the Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago
• Selim Zilkha 1946, entrepreneur and philanthropist
• Chris Zook 1973, business writer and head of Bain & Company's Global Strategy Practice

Curators and museum directors

Many were trained and deeply inspired by Whitney S. Stoddard and S. Lane Faison, who headed the art history department at Williams from 1940 to 1969.

• Brent Benjamin 1986, Director, St. Louis Art Museum
• John W. Coffey 1978, Deputy Director, North Carolina Museum of Art
• Michael Govan 1985, Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Sam Hunter 1943, Founding Director, Rose Art Museum; Director, Poses Institute for the Fine Arts; Director, Jewish Museum; Acting Director, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts
• Thomas Krens 1969, Director, Guggenheim Museums Worldwide
• Glenn D. Lowry 1976, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City
• Roger Mandle 1963, Executive Director of Qatar Museums Authority, former Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Gallery of Art and President, RISD
• Shamim M. Momin 1995, head of Los Angeles Nomadic Division and Adjunct Curator for Whitney Museum of Art
• Charles Percy Parkhurst 1935, Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Art, and one of the "monuments men"
• Earl A. Powell III 1966, Director of the National Gallery of Art 1992–present
• Kirk Varnedoe 1968, Chief Curator of painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, until his death in 2003
• James N. Wood 1963, former Director and President of the Art Institute of Chicago (1980–2004); December 2006: Named President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust

Government officials and political notables

Ambassadors, diplomats, and bureaucrats

• Henry E. Catto, Jr. 1952, United States Information Agency director and former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
• Charles Burke Elbrick 1929, career ambassador
• James Gilfillan 1856, thirteenth Treasurer of the United States
• Donald Gregg 1951, former national security advisor to Vice President Bush and Ambassador to South Korea; President and Chairman of the Korea Society
• Richard Helms 1935, former Central Intelligence Agency director and ambassador to Iran
• Arthur Levitt Jr. 1952, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1993–2001)
• John J. Louis, Jr. 1949, Ambassador to the United Kingdom
• William Green Miller, United States Ambassador to Ukraine (1993–1998)
• Richard Moe 1959, Chief of Staff for Vice President Walter Mondale and President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Matthew Nimetz 1960, American diplomat
• Phelps Phelps 1922, Ambassador to Dominican Republic and 38th Governor of American Samoa
• Ganson Purcell 1927, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1942-1946)
• Mitchell Reiss 1979, senior American diplomat and former Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State
• Susan Schwab 1976, United States Trade Representative (2006–2009), former Dean, University of Maryland School of Public Policy
• Douglas H. Shulman 1989, Commissioner of Internal Revenue
• Paul A. Trivelli 1974, United States Ambassador to Nicaragua (2005–2008)

Governors and state politicians

• Don Beyer 1972, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and Ambassador to Switzerland, Congressman from Virginia (since 2015)
• Arne Carlson 1957, 37th governor of Minnesota
• Martha Coakley 1975, Massachusetts Attorney General
• Sanford Dole 1867, governor of Territory of Hawaii
• Alfred E. Driscoll 1925, 60th governor of New Jersey
• Joseph B. Ely 1902, 58th governor of Massachusetts
• Philip Hoff 1948, 73rd governor of Vermont
• Henry Hoyt 1849, 18th governor of Pennsylvania
• Herbert H. Lehman 1899, 49th governor of New York; co-founder of Lehman Brothers
• John G. McMynn 1848, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin, educator
• James Miller 1803, first Governor of Arkansas Territory, and a Brigadier General in the United States Army during the War of 1812
• Chap Petersen 1990, 2008 Virginia State Senator 34th District, 2005 candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
• Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa and United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (died 1981)
• John S. Robinson 1824, 22nd governor of Vermont
• Bill Simon 1973, two-time California gubernatorial candidate
• Walker Stapleton 1996, Colorado State Treasurer
• Bruce Sundlun 1946, 69th governor of Rhode Island
• Nathaniel Tallmadge 1814, last governor of the Territory of Wisconsin
• Stephen H. Urquhart 1989, Utah State Legislator 2001-current
• Gilbert Carlton Walker 1854, 43rd governor of Virginia
• Emory Washburn 1817, 27th governor of Massachusetts
• Charles S. Whitman 1890, 44th governor of New York
• Charles Williams 1800, 20th governor of Vermont
• William Durkee Williamson 1804, 2nd governor of Maine

Legislature

A–M

• Elisha Hunt Allen 1823, Maine First Congressional District (1841–1843)
• Chester Ashley 1811(?), Arkansas Senator (1844–1848)
• Daniel Barnard 1818, New York Congressman (1827–1829, 1839–1845)
• Samuel Rossiter Betts 1806, New York Congressman (1815–1817)
• Lewis Bigelow 1803, Massachusetts Congressman (1821–1823)
• Victory Birdseye 1804, New York Congressman (1815–1817)
• Bernard Blair 1825, New York Congressman (1841–1843)
• Samuel Augustus Bridges 1826, Pennsylvania Congressman (1848-–1849, 1853–1855, 1877–1879)
• Edward Espenett Case 1975, Hawai'i Second Congressional District (2003–2007)
• Alfred Clark Chapin 1869, New York Congressman (1891–1892)
• Timothy Childs 1811, New York Congressman (1829–1831, 1835–1839, 1841–1843)
• Horace Francis Clark 1833, New York Congressman (1857–1861)
• John C. Clark 1811, New York Congressman (1827–1829, 1837–1843)
• Ernest Harold Cluett 1896, New York Congressman (1937–1943)
• Rodolphus Dickinson 1821, Ohio Congressman (1847 – died in office on March 20, 1849)
• James Dixon 1834, Connecticut Congressman (1845–1849) and Senator (1857–1869)
• Michael Edward Driscoll 1877, New York Congressman (1899–1913)
• Henry Williams Dwight 1809(?), Massachusetts Congressman (1821–1831)
• Steve Farley 1985, Arizona State Senator (2013-present) and Arizona State Representative (2007-2013)
• William H. Gest 1860, Illinois Congressman (1887–1891) and judge
• Charles Ellsworth Goodell 1948, New York Congressman and Senator (1959–1971)
• Byram Green 1808, New York Congressman (1843–1845) and co-founder of the American missionary movement
• Aaron Hackley, Jr. 1805, New York Congressman (1819–1821)
• Moses Hayden 1804, New York Congressman (1823–1827)
• Abner Hazeltine 1815, New York Congressman (1833–1837)
• John P. Hiler 1975, Indiana Congressman (1981–1991)
• Myron Holley, Erie Canal builder and New York State Assemblyman
• John James Ingalls 1855, Kanas Senator (1873–1891)
• Ferris Jacobs, Jr. 1856, New York Congressman (1881–1883)
• Edward Aloysius Kenney 1906, New Jersey Congressman (1933–1938)
• Samuel Knox 1836, Missouri Congressman (1864–1865)
• Addison Henry Laflin 1843, New York Congressman (1865–1871)
• Henry C. Martindale 1800, New York Congressman (1823–1831, 1831–1835)
• Robert McClellan 1825, New York Congressman (1837–1839, 1841–1843)
• Stephen C. Millard 1865, New York Congressman (1883–1887)
• Elijah H. Mills 1797, Massachusetts Congressman (1815–1819) and Senator (1820–1827)
• Chris Murphy 1996, US Senator (since 2013); Connecticut Congressman (2007–2013)

N–Z

• Jesse O. Norton 1835, Illinois Congressman (1853–1857, 1863–1865) and United States Attorney for Northern Illinois
• Abram B. Olin 1835, New York Congressman (1857–1863) and judge
• Frank C. Osmers, Jr., New Jersey Congressman (1939–1941, 1951–1965)
• John G. Otis, Kansas Congressman (1891–1893)
• John Palmer, ca. 1810, U.S. Congressman from New York (1817–1819 and 1837–1839)
• Job Pierson, New York Congressman (1831–1835)
• James Porter 1810, New York Congressman (1817–1819)
• Edward Rogers 1809, New York Congressman (1839–1841)
• Henry W. Seymour 1855, Michigan Congressman (1888–1889)
• Jonathan Sloane 1812, Ohio Congressman (1833–1837)
• Horace B. Smith 1847, New York Congressman (1871–1875) and Justice of New York Supreme Court
• George N. Southwick 1884, New York Congressman (1895–1899, 1901–1911)
• John B. Steele 1836, New York Congressman (1861–1865)
• Francis Lynde Stetson, New York representative in the 28th U. S. Congress
• Solomon Strong 1798, Massachusetts Congressman (1815–1819)
• Mark Udall 1972, Colorado Congressman (1999–2009) and Senator (2009–2015)
• Samuel Finley Vinton 1814, Ohio Congressman (1823–1836, 1843–1851)
• William Lowndes Yancey (member of the class of 1833 but did not graduate), Alabama Congressman (1844–1846) and Confederate Senator from Alabama (1862–1863)

Municipal

• Henry Perrin Coon 1844, Mayor of San Francisco, California (1863–1867)
• Elisha Johnson, Mayor of Rochester, New York (1838)
• William MacVane 1937, Mayor of Portland, Maine (1971), surgeon, and recipient of the Bronze Star during World War II
• Michael McGinn 1982, Mayor of Seattle, Washington (since 2009)
• William Moehle 1976, Supervisor of the Town of Brighton, New York (since 2012)
• Kevin White 1952, Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts (1968–1983)

Presidents, prime ministers, and cabinet positions

• Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Advisor of the Caretaker Government (title given to the Interim Prime Minister) of Bangladesh since January 12, 2007; former Governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, responsible for making the country's monetary policies; obtained Masters in development economics
• Kakha Baindurashvili, Minister of Finance of Georgia (since February 6, 2009)
• Richard Achilles Ballinger 1884, U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Mayor of Seattle
• William John Bennett 1965, Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan; appointed as the United States' first drug czar under President George H. W. Bush
• Bainbridge Colby 1890, Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson and founder of United States Progressive Party
• James A. Garfield 1856, 20th President of the United States
• James Rudolph Garfield 1885, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
• Pavlos Geroulanos, Minister of Culture of Greece (2009–2012)
• Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister of Singapore (1990–2004); received Masters from Williams Center for Development Economics
• Carina Vance Mafla 1999, Ecuador's Minister for Public Health
• V-Nee Yeh 1981, member of Executive Council of Hong Kong

Royalty

• Prince Hussain Aga Khan 1997, Shia Muslim royalty
• Reza Pahlavi (would have been 1983), former crown prince of Iran; matriculated at Williams, but left after his freshman year due to the Iranian Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

Judiciary and legal

A–M

• George Weston Anderson 1886, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• Samuel Rossiter Betts 1806, Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Charles Clapp 1945, Judge, United States Tax Court
• Dickinson Richards Debevoise 1948, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• Joseph A. Diclerico, Jr. 1963, Judge, United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire
• Morris Leopold Ernst 1909, lawyer and co-founder American Civil Liberties Union
• David Dudley Field II 1825, lawyer and reformer who made major contributions to the development of American civil procedure
• Stephen J. Field 1837, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and chief architect of the constitutional theory that protected industry from Federal regulation during the rapid industrialization that followed the American Civil War
• Lee Parsons Gagliardi 1941, Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• William Ball Gilbert 1868, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Madeline Hughes Haikala 1986, Magistrate Judge and nominee for United States District Judge, Northern District of Alabama
• Jameel Jaffer 1994, director of the national civil liberties project at ACLU
• Robert Joseph Kelleher 1935, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Central District of California
• Daniel Kellogg 1810, United States Attorney for the District of Vermont (1829–1841) and Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court (1845–1850)
• John Milton Killits 1880, Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
• Rives Kistler 1971, Associate Justice, Oregon Supreme Court
• Anthony T. Kronman 1968, Dean (1994–2004) and Sterling Professor of Law, Yale Law School
• Kenneth L. Marcus 1988, Staff Director, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2004–2008)
• Edward Cochrane McLean 1924, Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Paul Michel 1963, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Lawrence Mitchell 1978, Dean, Case Western University School of Law
• George Morell 1807, Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court

N–Z

• Edgar J. Nathan, Manhattan Borough President and Judge of the New York Supreme Court
• Abram Baldwin Olin 1835, Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia
• William T. Quillen, 1956, Justice, Supreme Court of Delaware
• Norman Redlich 1947, Dean of NYU Law School and special assistant on the Warren Commission
• Howard Frederic Sachs 1947, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
• Jeffrey Sutton 1983, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Telford Taylor 1928, prosecutor of Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials, General in the U.S. Army, and professor of law at Columbia University and Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law
• Jon S. Tigar 1984, Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of California
• Edward E. Wilson 1892, Assistant State Attorney, Cook County, Illinois (1912–1947)
• Gregory Howard Woods 1991, General Counsel for United States Department of Energy

Medicine

• Richard Besser, M.D., 1981, former Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Walter Bortz II, M.D., 1951, Professor at Stanford Medical School; author of books on aging
• Louis R. Caplan, M.D., 1958, physician and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School
• Barton Childs, M.D., 1938, pediatrician and geneticist at Johns Hopkins
• Albert Coons, M.D., 1933, pathologist-immunologist; recipient of the 1959 Albert Lasker Award in Basic Research
• Jonathan Fielding, M.D., 1964, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
• Michael Roizen, M.D., author of best-seller You: The Owner's Manual; Chairman of RealAge, Inc.; former Dean, Syracuse University Medical School; administrator at the Cleveland Clinic
• Craig R. Smith, M.D., 1970, Professor of Surgery at Columbia University Medical School
• Norman Spack, M.D., 1965, pediatric endocrinologist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
• Henry Reed Stiles, 1876, Superintendent of the State Homeopathic Asylum for the Insane; author of several historical and genealogical works

Military

• Samuel C. Armstrong 1862, educator; commissioned officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War
• Edward Peck Curtis 1917 (dropped out to serve in World War I), Major General and Chief of Staff, U. S. Strategic Air Force in Europe during World War II
• Myles C. Fox 1939, awarded the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during World War II
• Truman Seymour 1865, Major General and later painter; received his A.M. degree
• William Bradford Turner 1914, awarded Medal of Honor posthumously for actions in France 1918
• Charles White Whittlesey 1905, awarded Medal of Honor for his actions as commander of the famed Lost Battalion of World War I
• Ephraim Williams Jr., benefactor of Williams College; Colonel in the Massachusetts militia; killed in action during the Battle of Lake George in the French and Indian War

Music

• Kristen Anderson-Lopez 1994, Academy Award-winning songwriter
• Caitlin Canty 2004, singer/songwriter
• Chris Collingwood 1989, Fountains of Wayne member
• Kris Delmhorst, singer-songwriter
• William Finn 1974, Broadway composer of musicals, including Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; winner of the Tony Award
• Judd Greenstein 2001, composer; co-director, New Amsterdam Records
• Will Holt 1951, singer-songwriter
• Jason Howland 1993, composer of the Broadway musical Little Women, which opened in January 2005 at the Virginia Theatre
• Marcus Hummon 1984, Nashville-based singer-songwriter; twice nominated for a Grammy Award, won for Best Country Song ("Bless the Broken Road", performed by Rascal Flatts) in 2006; sometimes performs with a band called Redwing
• Art Lande 1969, jazz pianist and composer
• Chris Lightcap 1993, bassist, composer and bandleader
• Alastair Moock 1995, folk and children's musician
• John Morris Russell 1982, symphony conductor
• Adam Schlesinger 1989, Fountains of Wayne and Ivy member
• Stephen Sondheim 1950, Broadway composer of musicals
• Leehom Wang 1998, singer-songwriter and actor in East Asia
• Jesse Winchester 1966, singer-songwriter
• Nick Zammuto 1999, of The Books

Religion

• Rachel Barenblat 1996, poet, blogger and rabbi
• Boon Tuan Boon-Itt 1889, early leader in the Protestant Christian community of Thailand
• Dan Cohn-Sherbok 1966, Jewish theologian and author on religion
• Wallace E. Conkling, 7th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago
• Henry Martyn Field 1838, author and clergyman
• Washington Gladden 1859, Congregational church pastor and leading member of the Progressive Movement
• Harvey Rexford Hitchcock 1828, Protestant missionary to Hawaii
• Samuel Johnson Howard 1973, 8th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida
• Timothy Lull 1965, President of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
• Jeb Stuart Magruder 1958, White House official involved in the Watergate scandal; later became a Presbyterian minister
• Eleazer Root 1821, educator and Episcopal priest
• David Jewett Waller, Sr. 1834, minister, entrepreneur and civic leader

Science, technology, and engineering

• Robert Grant Aitken 1892, astronomer, director of Lick Observatory; compiled comprehensive catalog of double stars
• John M. Darby 1831, botanist; created the first catalogue of flora of the southeastern United States
• Chester Dewey 1810, botanist
• Alexander L. Fetter 1958, Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Materials; former Chair of the Physics Department, Stanford University (1985–1990)
• Louis Fieser 1920, Harvard chemistry professor and inventor
• Harry L. Fisher 1909, rubber chemist; 69th president of the American Chemical Society
• Ralph E. Gomory 1950, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Director of Research for IBM
• Chapman Grant 1910, biologist and herpetologist; grandson of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant
• J. T. Gulick (1855–1859), evolutionary biologist
• G. Stanley Hall 1867, the father of American psychology; first American to be awarded a Doctor of Psychology
• William Higinbotham 1932, physicist; credited with creating the first video game
• Daniel Kleppner 1953, physicist
• Edward Morley 1860, co-performed the Michelson–Morley experiment
• Lewis Morris Rutherfurd 1834, astronomer and pioneering astrophotographer
• Ethan Zuckerman 1993, co-founder of Tripod.com; founder of Geekcorps; fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society

Sports

• Mike Bajakian 1996, quarterbacks coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (since 2015)
• Benny Boynton 1921, football player; named to Walter Camp's All-American teams in 1919 and 1920; played in the early years of the National Football League; member of the College Football Hall of Fame
• Ethan Brooks 1996, former National Football League offensive lineman
• Dan Calichman 1990, Major League Soccer All-Star
• Dave Clawson 1989, college football head coach, Wake Forest University
• Dick Colman 1936, Princeton University football head coach (1957–1968); member of the College Football Hall of Fame
• Jim Duquette 1988, senior vice president of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles
• Pat Duquette 1993, head coach, University of Massachusetts Lowell basketball (since 2013)
• Roger Headrick 1958, owner of the Minnesota Vikings football team, 1991-1998
• John Jay 1938, Rhodes Scholar and American skiing pioneer; invented the ski film in its modern form
• Jonathan Kraft 1986, operator, investor and owner's representative to the New England Patriots, New England Revolution and Gillette Stadium; chief operating officer of The Kraft Group
• Robert Leavitt 1907, Olympic gold medalist in 110-meter hurdles
• Jack Maitland 1970, football player; running back in the National Football League in the 1970s; earned a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V
• Kevin Morris 1986, head coach, University of Massachusetts football team (2009–2011); Yale Offensive Coordinator (2012 & 2013); Monmouth University (2014 to Present)
• Robert Nutting 1984, Chairman, CEO, owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Coach Ogilvie, head football coach at New York University (1899)
• Frank "Buck" O'Neill 1902, College Football Hall of Fame coach
• Dave Paulsen 1987, head coach, George Mason University men's basketball; coached Williams to 2003 Division III national championship
• Scott Perry, former defensive back in the National Football League; played four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals
• Robert L. "Nob" Rauch 1980, former Executive Director of the Ultimate Players Association; President of the World Flying Disc Federation; member of the Ultimate Hall of Fame
• Frederick Bushnell "Jack" Ryder 1892, first paid head coach, Ohio State Buckeyes
• George Steinbrenner 1952, owner of the New York Yankees
• Harold Z. Steinbrenner 1991, general partner of New York Yankees
• Khari Stephenson 2004, Major League Soccer and Jamaica national football team player
• Fay Vincent 1960, former Major League Baseball commissioner
• Michael Weiner 1983, General Counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association

Writing and journalism

A–M

• Peter Abrahams 1968, writer of crime thrillers
• Rachel Axler 1999, television comedy writer and playwright
• Stephen Birmingham 1950, writer
• Sterling Brown 1922, poet
• Erin Burnett 1998, anchor of CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront
• William Cullen Bryant 1814, poet; editor-in-chief New-York Evening Post (later the New York Post) (1828–1878)
• Mika Brzezinski 1989, reporter on MSNBC; daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor under U.S. President Jimmy Carter
• Kristin Cashore, author of Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue
• Hal Crowther 1966, author and essayist
• Dominick Dunne 1949, author
• Max Eastman 1905, writer and political activist
• Tim Evans 2006, author, brewer
• Naoko Funayama 1995, rinkside reporter for Boston Bruins games on the New England Sports Network
• Matt Gutman 2000, ABC News correspondent
• Nathan Hale 1804, newspaper publisher who introduced editorial content as a feature
• David G. Hartwell 1963, editor of science fiction and fantasy literature
• John Kifner 1963, writer and editor at The New York Times
• Edward J. Larson 1974, 1998 Pulitzer Prize for History winner for Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion
• Fiona Maazel 1997, novelist
• Dave Marash 1964, Nightline correspondent
• Joseph McElroy 1951, author
• Jay McInerney 1976, author of Bright Lights, Big City
• Bethany McLean 1992, author of The Smartest Guys in the Room about the collapse of Enron
• L. E. Modesitt, Jr. 1965, author of science fiction and fantasy; noted for his The Saga of Recluce series
• R. A. Montgomery 1958, author/creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure series

N–Z

• Sonia Nazario 1982, Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing winner
• Robert Wilson Patterson 1871, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune; president of the Tribune Company
• Claudia Rankine 1986, poet and playwright
• Stacy Schiff 1982, Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winner
• Eric P. Schmitt 1982, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Wendy Shalit 1997, author of A Return to Modesty and Girls Gone Mild
• David Shipley 1985, New York Times editor; former speechwriter for U.S. President Bill Clinton
• Hedrick Smith 1955, 1974 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winner
• John Toland 1936, writer
• Norah Vincent 1990, syndicated columnist; author of Self-Made Man
• Charles Webb 1961, author of the novel The Graduate (the novel begins, "Benjamin Braddock graduated from a small Eastern college on a day in June.")

See also

• List of people from Massachusetts

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Williams Students Online