List of Columbia College people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following list contains only notable graduates, former students, and faculty members at Columbia College, the undergraduate liberal arts division of Columbia University, and its predecessor, from 1754 to 1776, King's College. For a full list of individuals associated with the university as a whole, please see the List of Columbia University people.
[edit] Notable alumni and former students
An asterisk (*) indicates a former student who did not graduate.
[edit] Founding Fathers of the United States
- John Jay (King's 1764), President of the Continental Congress; first Chief Justice of the United States; Federalist Papers contributor; first US Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation; architect of Jay's Treaty with Great Britain
- Robert Livingston (King's 1764), a writer of the US Declaration of Independence; second US Secretary of Foreign Affairs; negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase
- Egbert Benson (King's 1765), delegate to the Continental Congress and United States Congressman
- Gouverneur Morris (King's 1768), represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress; authored large sections of the United States Constitution; United States Ambassador to France
- Alexander Hamilton* (King's 1776), Revolutionary War officer and aide de camp to George Washington; Federalist Papers architect and most prolific contributor; first United States Secretary of the Treasury
[edit] Academics
[edit] Art Historians
- Meyer Schapiro (1924), art historian
- Barry Bergdoll (1977), chief curator of Architcture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art
[edit] Classicists
- Charles Anthon (1815), classical scholar and translator
- Henry Drisler (1839), classical scholar and acting president of Columbia College
[edit] Historians
- William Milligan Sloane (1868), historian, president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and organizer of first U.S. Olympic team
- William Archibald Dunning (1881), founder of the Dunning School of Reconstruction
- Carlton Hayes (1904), pioneering cultural historian
- Jacques Barzun (1927), cultural historian
- Carl E. Schorske (1936), cultural historian and winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for History
- Fritz Stern (1946), Seth Low Professor of History Emeritus; pre-eminent in German studies
- Eric Foner (1963), pre-eminent historian of Reconstruction
- Mike Wallace (1964), historian and winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History for Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
- Jay Winter (1966), World War I specialist at Yale University
- Paul Berman (1971), historian and social critic
- Sean Wilentz (1972), historian and winner of the Bancroft Prize; chair of American Studies at Princeton University
- Thomas Sugrue (1984), historian of the 20th century United States
- David Eisenbach (1994), historian
[edit] Literary scholars
- Harry Thurston Peck (1881), literary critic and editor of The Bookman
- John Erskine (1900), Great Books pioneer
- Lionel Trilling (1925), literary critic
- Francis Steegmuller (1927), Flaubert scholar
- Quentin Anderson (1937), cultural historian and literary critic
- Michael Bérubé (1982), professor of literature and cultural studies
[edit] Mathematicians
- John Howard Van Amringe (1860), mathematician and Dean of Columbia College
- Joel Moses (1962), mathematician and provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Noam Elkies (1985), mathematician
[edit] Philosophers
- Irwin Edman (1916), philosopher
- Mortimer Adler* (1923), philosopher
- Jerry Fodor (1956), philosopher
- Robert Nozick (1959), libertarian philosopher
[edit] University presidents
- Seth Low (1870), president of Columbia University and Mayor of New York City
- Nicholas Murray Butler (1882), president of Columbia University, chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Nobel Peace Prize winner
- Mario Laserna Pinzón (1948), Colombian diplomat and educator; founded the Universidad de Los Andes
- Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (1959), president of the University of Hartford and of George Washington University
[edit] Other academics
- Brander Matthews (1871), first professor of dramatic literature in the United States
- Alfred L. Kroeber (1896), pioneering cultural anthropologist
- Edward Sapir (1904), linguist and co-creator of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
- Parker Thomas Moon (1913), professor and managing editor of the Political Science Quarterly
- Benjamin Graham (1914), economist who pioneered "value investing"
- Joseph Campbell (1925), mythologist
- Wm. Theodore de Bary (1941), East Asian studies expert and provost of Columbia
- Richard Heffner (1946), professor and host of The Open Mind
- Marshall Berman (1961), urbanologist
- Paul Starr (1970), sociologist; co-founder of The American Prospect and winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
[edit] Actors
- Ralph Morgan (1904), co-founder of Actors Equity and first president of the Screen Actors Guild
- James Cagney* (1922), winner of the Academy Award for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Cornel Wilde* (1933), star of The Greatest Show on Earth, Beach Red, and Academy Award nominee for A Song to Remember
- Dolph Sweet (1948), appeared in Another World and Gimme a Break!
- Sorrell Booke (1949), played Boss Hogg in The Dukes of Hazzard
- George Segal (1955), star of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Ship of Fools and Just Shoot Me!
- Brian Dennehy (1960), winner of the Tony Award for Death of a Salesman
- Ben Stein (1966), host of Win Ben Stein's Money; speechwriter for former US President Richard M. Nixon
- Richard Thomas* (1973), star of The Waltons
- Mario Van Peebles (1978), star of Heartbreak Ridge and Sonny Spoon
- Matthew Fox (1989), star of Party of Five and Lost
- Dan Futterman (1989), actor and screenwriter, starred in The Birdcage and wrote Capote
- Cara Buono (1993), star of Third Watch
- Jean Louisa Kelly (1994), star of Mr. Holland's Opus
- Amanda Peet (1994), star of the TV series Jack and Jill and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and the film The Whole Nine Yards
- Maggie Gyllenhaal (1998), actress, Stranger than Fiction and Sherrybaby
- Jake Gyllenhaal* (2000), star of Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, and Donnie Darko
- Anna Paquin* (2003), winner of the Academy Award for The Piano
- Rider Strong (2004), star of Boy Meets World
- Julia Stiles (2005), star of Save the Last Dance and Mona Lisa Smile
- Jeremy Blackman (2009), appeared in Magnolia
- Max Minghella (2009), appeared in Syriana and Art School Confidential
- Spencer Treat Clark (2010), appeared in Gladiator, Mystic River, and Unbreakable
[edit] Artists and architects
- James Renwick, Jr. (1836), Gothic Revival architect who designed St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York and the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, DC
- Ely Jacques Kahn (1904), commercial architect
- Rockwell Kent* (1907), illustrator
- Isamu Noguchi* (1926), sculptor
- Charles Alston (1929), artist
- Ad Reinhardt (1935), Abstract Expressionist artist and critic
- Charles Saxon (1940), cartoonist
- Robert A. M. Stern (1960), traditionalist architect
- Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (1974), photographer
[edit] Athletes
- Eddie Collins (1907), baseball player for the Chicago White Sox and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Lou Gehrig* (1925), legendary first baseman for the New York Yankees and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Cliff Montgomery (1934), led the Columbia Lions football team to victory in the Rose Bowl
- Sid Luckman (1939), legendary Chicago Bears quarterback
- Paul Governali (1943), football player for the Boston Yanks and New York Giants
- Jack Molinas (1953), NBA player for the Fort Wayne Pistons
- George Starke (1971), offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins
- Vitas Gerulaitis* (1975), champion tennis player
- Gene Larkin (1984), member of the Minnesota Twins 1987 and 1991 World Series championship teams
- Marcellus Wiley (1997), football player for the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers and Dallas Cowboys
[edit] Businessmen
- William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (1811), son of John Jacob Astor
- John Jacob Astor III (1839), son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr.
- William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1849), son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. and husband of Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, co-founder of The Four Hundred
- Stuyvesant Fish (1871), president of the Illinois Central Railroad
- Ward Melville (1909), creator of Thom McAn shoes
- Armand Hammer (1919), chairman of Occidental Petroleum
- Nathan S. Ancell (1929), co-founder of Ethan Allen
- Ira D. Wallach (1929), head of Central National-Gottesman
- John Kluge (1937), chairman of Metromedia
- Alfred Lerner (1955), chairman of MBNA Bank and owner of the Cleveland Browns
- Sid Sheinberg (1955), head of Universal Pictures
- Frank Lorenzo (1961), chairman of Eastern Airlines
- Kenneth Lipper (1962), financier and deputy mayor of New York City
- Jerry Speyer (1962), founding partner of Tishman Speyer
- Robert Kraft (1963), owner of the New England Patriots
- Wayne Allyn Root (1983), business mogul, TV personality and producer, author, sports handicapper, and aspiring politician
[edit] Journalism and media figures
[edit] Arts critics
- Gustav Kobbé (1877), opera scholar and music critic of the New York Herald
- Clifton Fadiman (1925), book critic for The New Yorker and judge for the Book of the Month Club
- Ralph J. Gleason (1938), music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and co-founder of Rolling Stone
- Andrew Sarris (1951), film critic
- Martin Gottfried (1955), critic, author, and biographer
- David Denby (1965), film critic for The New Yorker
- Tim Page (1979), music critic of The Washington Post and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
- Luc Sante (1976), literary critic
- Neil Strauss (1991), music critic and best-selling author
[edit] Broadcasters
- Robert Siegel (1968), host of All Things Considered on National Public Radio
- James Rubin (1982), Sky News anchorman; State Department official under the administration of US President Bill Clinton; spokesman for the presidential campaigns of Wesley Clark and John Kerry
- George Stephanopoulos (1982), ABC News personality; senior advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration
- Claire Shipman (1986), ABC News correspondent
- Soterios Johnson (1990), host of Morning Edition on National Public Radio
- Alexis Glick (1994), television news anchorwoman
- Gideon Yago (2000), MTV News correspondent
[edit] Editors
- John L. O'Sullivan (1831), journalist who coined the term "Manifest Destiny"
- Francis Pharcellus Church (1859), editorial writer for the New York Sun and author of Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
- Simeon Strunsky (1900), literary editor of the New York Evening Post and editorial writer for The New York Times
- James Wechsler (1935), editorial page editor of The New York Post
- Lucien Carr (1946), editor for United Press International
- Robert Gottlieb (1952), editor of The New Yorker
- Max Frankel (1952), Pulitzer Prize winning editor of the New York Times
- Leon Wieseltier (1974), literary editor, The New Republic
[edit] Print journalists
- Herbert Matthews (1922), New York Times foreign correspondent who first reported Fidel Castro alive in the Sierra Maestra
- Michael Musto (1978), gossip columnist for The Village Voice
- Matthew Cooper (1984), Time magazine White House correspondent and defendant in the Valerie Plame investigation
- Anne Kornblut (1994), correspondent for The Washington Post
[edit] Pundits
- Ralph de Toledano (1938), conservative commentator
- Joseph Kraft (1947), political columnist
- Norman Podhoretz (1950), a "father of neoconservatism", editor of Commentary Magazine and author of Making It
- Jules Witcover (1951), columnist, The Baltimore Sun
- David Horowitz (1959), conservative commentator and activist; author of the Academic Bill of Rights
[edit] Sports journalists
- Roone Arledge (1952), sportscaster, creator of Monday Night Football and head of ABC News
- Paul Zimmerman (1955), football writer for Sports Illustrated known as "Dr. Z"
- Robert Lipsyte (1957), sports writer for New York Times, correspondent for ABC News and host of The Eleventh Hour.
- Gilbert Rogin (1957), managing editor of Sports Illustrated
- Chet Forte (1957), first director of Monday Night Football
[edit] Legal and judicial figures
- Samuel Blatchford (1837), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- Benjamin Cardozo (1889), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- Arthur Garfield Hays (1902), counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union and lawyer in the Scopes Trial
- Louis Nizer (1922), legendary trial lawyer
- Frank Hogan (1924), District Attorney of New York City
- Murray Gurfein (1926), federal judge in the Pentagon Papers case
- Jack Greenberg (1945), civil rights lawyer who argued the Brown v. Board of Education case before the United States Supreme Court
- Roy Cohn (1946), attorney and counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy
- Bernard Nussbaum (1958), White House counsel under Bill Clinton
- Robert Abrams (1960), Bronx Borough President and New York State Attorney General
- José A. Cabranes (1961), judge on the US Court of Appeals; first Puerto Rican to sit in a US District Court
- Michael B. Mukasey (1963), U.S. district court judge, presided over trials of Omar Abdel Rahman and El Sayyid Nosair
- Joel Klein (1967), assistant Attorney General of the United States; Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
- Nicholas G. Garaufis (1969), U.S. district court judge and former chief counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration
- William Barr (1971), Attorney General of the United States
- Gerard E. Lynch (1972), United States District Court Judge in the Southern District of New York
- Miguel Estrada (1983), controversial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- Neil Gorsuch (1988), judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
[edit] Military leaders
- Stephen Kearny (1812), Conqueror of California in the Mexican-American War
- Charles Wilkes (1818), leader of the United States Exploring Expedition to survey the Pacific Ocean; instigator of the Trent Affair during the American Civil War
- Alfred Thayer Mahan* (1858), president, U.S. Naval War College and author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History
[edit] Musicians, composers, and lyricists
- Roy Webb (1910), composer for Notorious and Abe Lincoln in Illinois
- Oscar Hammerstein II (1916), lyricist for Show Boat, Oklahoma! and The King and I, among other Broadway musical hits
- Howard Dietz (1917), director of publicity for MGM and lyricist for "Dancing in the Dark"
- Lorenz Hart (1918), lyricist for Pal Joey and other Broadway musical hits
- Richard Rodgers* (1923), composer and collaborator with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II; wrote music for Carousel, The Sound of Music, and Victory at Sea, among many others
- John La Touche* (1937), lyricist for Cabin in the Sky and The Golden Apple
- Orrin Keepnews (1943), jazz record producer and winner of the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album.
- Dick Hyman (1948), musical director for Arthur Godfrey; composer or arranger for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Purple Rose of Cairo; Emmy Award winner
- John Corigliano (1959), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music and Academy Award for Best Original Score
- Edward Kleban (1959), lyricist for A Chorus Line
- Charles Wuorinen (1961), serialist composer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Time's Encomium
- Joel Krosnick (1963), chamber musician and member of the Juilliard String Quartet
- Art Garfunkel (1965), singer for Simon and Garfunkel
- Jon Bauman (1969), "Bowzer" of Sha Na Na
- Emanuel Ax (1970), concert pianist
- Armen Donelian (1972), jazz pianist
- Jocko Marcellino (1972), member of Sha Na Na
- Phil Schaap (1972), Charlie Parker authority and multiple Grammy Award winner for engineering, production, and album notes
- Gil Shaham (1993), violinist
- R. Luke DuBois (1997), composer
- Lauryn Hill* (1997), member of The Fugees
- Orli Shaham (1997), pianist
- Utada Hikaru (2000), Japanese Pop star, recently debuted in America with her album Exodus.
[edit] Playwrights, screenwriters, and directors
- Herman Mankiewicz (1917), drama critic for The New Yorker and co-winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane
- Morrie Ryskind (1917), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with George S. Kaufman for Of Thee I Sing and co-writer of The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, and A Night at the Opera
- Sidney Buchman (1923), screenwriter for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and winner of the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Here Comes Mr. Jordan
- Alvah Bessie (1924), screenwriter for Objective, Burma! and one of the Hollywood Ten
- Joseph Mankiewicz (1928), Academy Award-winning writer and director of All About Eve and A Letter to Three Wives
- Ben Maddow (1930), screenwriter for The Asphalt Jungle
- Albert Maltz (1930), screenwriter for Destination Tokyo and one of the Hollywood Ten
- I.A.L. Diamond (1941), screenwriting partner of Billy Wilder; co-author of Some Like It Hot; co-winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Apartment
- Terrence McNally (1960), Tony Award-winning playwright; author of Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime (musical)
- Brian DePalma (1962), director of Scarface, The Untouchables and Carrie
- Jim Jarmusch (1975), writer/director of the Coffee and Cigarettes series
- Bill Condon (1976), winner of the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Gods and Monsters, director of Kinsey and Dreamgirls
- Tony Kushner (1978), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Angels in America
- Michael Lehmann (1978), director of Heathers, 40 Days and 40 Nights, The Truth About Cats and Dogs and Hudson Hawk
- Jessica Bendinger (1988), writer of Bring it On and for Sex and the City
[edit] Political and diplomatic figures
[edit] United States political and diplomatic figures
- Richard Varick (King's 1776), Mayor of New York City and American Revolutionary War figure; aide-de-camp of Benedict Arnold and private secretary of George Washington
- DeWitt Clinton (1786), Governor of New York who initiated the construction of the Erie Canal
- Daniel D. Tompkins (1795), Vice President of the United States; Governor of New York
- Peter Dumont Vroom (1808), U.S. Minister to Prussia and Governor of New Jersey
- John Slidell (1810), Confederate minister to France and a central figure of the Trent Affair during the American Civil War
- Charles G. Ferris (1811), United States Congressman from New York
- William Beach Lawrence (1818), U.S. chargé d'affaires for Great Britain and acting governor of Rhode Island
- William F. Havemeyer (1823), three-time Mayor of New York City
- John McKeon (1825): U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York; United States Congressman from New York
- Hamilton Fish (1827), US Secretary of State; Governor of New York; United States Senator from New York
- John Richardson Thurman (1835), United States Congressman from New York
- Abram Stevens Hewitt (1842), Mayor of New York City and father of the New York City Subway system
- Jacob Augustus Geissenhainer (1858), United States Congressman from New Jersey
- Seth Low (1870), Mayor of New York City and president of Columbia University
- Robert Anderson Van Wyck (1871), first Mayor of New York City to preside over all five boroughs
- James W. Gerard (1890), United States Ambassador to Germany
- John Purroy Mitchel (1899), Mayor of New York City
- William Langer (1910), United States Senator and Governor of North Dakota
- Arthur F. Burns (1925), Chairman of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Ambassador to West Germany
- Harold Brown (1945), U.S. Secretary of Defense and president of the California Institute of Technology
- Morton Halperin (1958), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department, and member of Richard Nixon's Enemies List
- Dick Morris (1967), political strategist and advisor to President Bill Clinton and Mexican President Felipe Calderon
- Judd Gregg (1969), United States Senator from New Hampshire; Governor of New Hampshire; United States Congressman
- Jerrold Nadler (1969), United States Congressman from New York
- Dov Zakheim (1970), advisor to the US Presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush
- David Paterson (1977), first African American Lieutenant Governor of New York
- Christopher Dell (1978), career diplomat; current US ambassador to Zimbabwe
- Jim McGreevey (1978), Governor of New Jersey
- James Rubin (1982), State Department official under the administration of US President Bill Clinton; spokesman for the presidential campaigns of Wesley Clark and John Kerry; Sky News anchorman
- George Stephanopoulos (1982), senior advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration and ABC News personality
- Barack Obama (1983), United States Senator from Illinois
- Eric Garcetti (1992), member of the Los Angeles City Council
[edit] Foreign political and diplomatic figures
- Pixley ka Isaka Seme (1906), founder and president of the African National Congress
- Wellington Koo (1909), President of the Republic of China and China's ambassador to the United States
- Mario Laserna Pinzón (1948), Colombian diplomat and educator; founded the Universidad de Los Andes
- Johan Jorgen Holst (1960), Norwegian Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs; heavily involved with the Oslo Accords
- Dore Gold (1975), Israeli political advisor and diplomat
- Toomas Hendrik Ilves (1975), President of Estonia
[edit] Publishers
- Alfred Harcourt (1904) and Donald Brace (1904), founders of Harcourt Brace
- Alfred A. Knopf (1912), founder and chairman of Alfred A. Knopf
- George T. Delacorte Jr. (1913), founder of Dell Publishing
- Arthur Hays Sulzberger (1913), publisher of The New York Times
- Bennett Cerf (1920), founder of Random House
- Richard L. Simon (1920) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1921), founders of Simon and Schuster
- Robert Giroux (1936), chairman of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Ian Ballantine (1938), founder of Ballantine Books
- Jason Epstein (1949), editorial director of Random House and co-founder of the New York Review of Books
- Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (1951), publisher of The New York Times
- Louis Rossetto (1971), founder and publisher of Wired magazine
- John R. MacArthur (1978), president and publisher of Harper's magazine
[edit] Religious figures
- Benjamin Moore (King's 1768), second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and president of Columbia College
- Jackson Kemper (1809), first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
- Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk (1809), fourth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York
- Stephen Samuel Wise (1892), rabbi and Zionist leader
- Thomas Merton (1938), Trappist monk, writer, humanist; author of The Seven Storey Mountain
- Michael Lerner (1964), liberal rabbi and editor of Tikkun magazine
[edit] Scientists and inventors
- John Stevens (King's 1768), builder of the first oceangoing steamboat in the United States
- Horatio Allen (1823), imported the Stourbridge Lion, first successful steam locomotive to run in the United States
- Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (1841), chemist
- William Barclay Parsons (1879), chief engineer of the New York City Subway system
- Michael Pupin (1879), physicist
- Michael Heidelberger (1909), immunologist
- Hermann Joseph Muller (1910), geneticist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Konrad Lorenz* (1926), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr. (1935), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Robert Marshak (1936), president of the American Physical Society and president of the City College of New York
- Julian Schwinger (1936), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics; posited the Schwinger effect
- Barry Commoner (1937), environmentalist
- Robert Jastrow (1944), astronomer
- Joshua Lederberg (1944), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- John Backus (1949), inventor of the Fortran programming language
- Robert Neil Butler (1949), president of the International Longevity Center and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
- Leon Cooper (1951), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Melvin Schwartz (1953), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Alvin F. Poussaint (1956), professor of psychiatry and dean of freshmen at the Harvard Medical School
- Roald Hoffman (1958), winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Robert Pollack (1961), biologist
- Niles Eldredge (1965), collaborator of Stephen Jay Gould and curator of the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History
- Richard Axel (1967), winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for studying the operations of the olfactory system
[edit] Spies
- William Joseph Donovan (1905), head of the Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency
- Whittaker Chambers* (1924), Soviet spy and accuser of Alger Hiss
- Nathaniel Weyl (1931), operative in the Ware group of Soviet spies in the United States
- Victor Perlo (1933), leader of the Perlo group of Soviet spies in the United States
- Frank Snepp (1965), former CIA station chief for Saigon during the Vietnam War
[edit] Writers
- Clement Clarke Moore (1798), purported author of A Visit From St. Nicholas
- Charles Fenno Hoffman (1825), poet, translator, and editor
- Evert Augustus Duyckinck (1835), literary biographer
- Joyce Kilmer (1908), poet and author of Trees
- Randolph Bourne (1912), essayist and public intellectual
- Paul Gallico* (1919), author of The Poseidon Adventure
- Louis Zukofsky* (1922), modernist poet
- Corey Ford* (1923), humorist
- Henry Morton Robinson (1923), author of The Cardinal
- Cornell Woolrich (1923), mystery writer and author of Rear Window
- Herman Wouk (1934), author of War and Remembrance and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Caine Mutiny
- John Berryman (1936), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- Robert Lax (1938), minimalist poet
- Walter Farley (1941), author of The Black Stallion and its many sequels
- Gerald Green (1942), wrote Holocaust and The Last Angry Man
- Jack Kerouac* (1944), Beat generation author of On the Road
- Walter Wager (1944), mystery writer
- Allen Ginsberg (1948), Beat generation poet; author of Howl
- John Hollander (1950), poet, MacArthur Fellow and winner of the Bollingen Prize
- Richard Howard (1951), translator and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- Ralph Schoenstein (1953), humorist
- Robert Silverberg (1956), science fiction writer
- Jerome Charyn (1959), novelist
- Phillip Lopate (1964), essayist and fiction writer
- Steven Millhauser (1965), novelist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
- Eric Van Lustbader (1967), espionage and thriller novelist
- Thomas Hauser (1968), author of nonfiction and biographer
- David Shapiro (1968), poet
- Paul Auster (1970), postmodern writer; author of The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace, and the Brooklyn Follies
- David Lehman (1970), poet
- Lou Antonelli (1981), science fiction writer
- David Rakoff (1986), comedic essayist
- Megan McCafferty (1995), chick lit writer, plagiarized by Kaavya Viswanathan
[edit] Miscellaneous
- James Lenox (1818), bibliophile, founder of the Lenox Library, later incorporated into the New York Public Library
- John Lloyd Stephens (1822), explorer, archaeologist, Special Ambassador to Central America, and president of the Panama Railroad
- Arthur B. Spingarn (1897), president of the NAACP
- Vincent Sardi, Jr. (1937), proprietor of Sardi's
- Arnold Friedman, subject of the documentary Capturing the Friedmans
- Richard Ravitch (1955), chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Bowery Savings Bank
- John Giorno (1958), subject of Andy Warhol's first movie, Sleep
- David Gilbert (1966), leader of Students for a Democratic Society and participant in Brink's armored car attack with Kathy Boudin
- Edwin Schlossberg (1967), husband of Caroline Kennedy
- Ted Gold* (1968), student activist, leader of the Students for a Democratic Society and member of the Weatherman group
- Mark Rudd* (1969), president of Students for a Democratic Society and member of the Weather Underground
- David Kaczynski (1970), brother of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski
- Peter Bacanovic (1984), Martha Stewart's stockbroker involved in the ImClone scandal.
- Annie Duke (1987), professional poker player
[edit] Notable faculty
The list below refers exclusively to faculty of Columbia College, from its inception as King's College through the creation of Columbia University in the 1890s. The College faculty remained independent until the early 1990s, when it was dissolved completely into the larger Columbia University faculty. For a complete list of notable university faculty, please see the List of Columbia University people.
This list is incomplete.
[edit] Presidents and Deans of King's and Columbia Colleges
- Samuel Johnson (president 1754-1763), first President of King's College and exponent of Anglicanism
- Myles Cooper (president 1764-1775)
- Benjamin Moore (president 1775-1776 and 1801-1810), bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York
- George Clinton (chancellor 1784-1787), Vice President of the United States and Governor of New York
- William Samuel Johnson (president 1787-1800), Founding Father of the United States
- William Alexander Duer (president 1829-1842), judge
- Henry Drisler (acting president 1867 and 1888-9; faculty 1857-1894), classicist
- Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (president 1864-1888), founder of Barnard College
- Seth Low (president 1888-1896), first President of Columbia University, Mayor of New York City
- John Howard Van Amringe (dean 1896-1910), mathematician
- Frederick P. Keppel (dean 1910-1917)
- Herbert Hawkes (dean 1918-1943), mathematician
- Harry Carman (dean 1943-1950), historian
- Lawrence H. Chamberlain (dean 1950-1958)
- John G. Palfrey (dean 1958-1962)
- David Truman (dean 1962-1967), political scientist
- Carl Hovde (dean 1968-1972)
- Peter Pouncey (dean 1972-1976), author and classicist
- Arnold Collery (dean 1977-1982)
- Robert Pollack (dean 1982-1989), biologist
- Jack Greenberg (dean 1989-1993), civil rights lawyer, argued the Brown v. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court
- Steven Marcus (dean 1993-1995)
- Austin Quigley (dean 1995-present)
[edit] 18th century
- James Kent (1793-1798), first professor of law in the United States
[edit] 19th century
- Charles Anthon (1820-1867), classicist
- John Burgess, founder of modern political science
- Nicholas Murray Butler (1887-1902), Nobel Peace Prize winner, US Presidential candidate and President of Columbia University
- William Archibald Dunning, founder of the Dunning School of Reconstruction
- Lorenzo Da Ponte (1825; 1827-1838), librettist for the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Harry Thurston Peck, literary critic and editor of The Bookman
[edit] 20th century
- Quentin Anderson, professor of English
- Jacques Barzun, cultural historian
- Charles A. Beard, historian and author of An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution
- Eric Bentley, dramatic critic
- James McKeen Cattell, psychologist
- Arthur Danto, philosopher and art critic for The Nation
- Wm. Theodore de Bary, East Asian studies expert
- John Erskine, developed the Great Books program
- Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History and pre-eminent historian of Reconstruction
- Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics
- Richard Hofstadter, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History
- Robert Jastrow, astronomer
- Tsung-Dao Lee, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- C. Wright Mills, sociologist
- Thomas Hunt Morgan, zoologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Sidney Morgenbesser, philosopher
- I.I. Rabi, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- James Rainwater, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Arnold Rampersad, professor of English with specialty in black studies
- Edward Said, literary scholar and coiner of "Orientalism"
- Meyer Schapiro, pioneering art historian
- Joel Elias Spingarn, literary critic
- Lionel Trilling, literary critic
- Mark Van Doren, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and critic
- William Vickrey, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics