List of Washington University alumni

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

The following persons are well-known alumni, living and deceased, of Washington University in St. Louis.

Arts and literature

Playwright Tennessee Williams.

• Deanne Bell (BS 2002): host of Discovery Channel's Smash Lab and PBS's Design Squad
• Kristin Bauer van Straten: television actress on True Blood
• Morris Carnovsky (AB): stage and film actor
• Larry Cuba (AB 1972): animator
• Robert Culp (attended): television actor^[1]
• Anita Diamant (AB 1973): novelist
• Doug Dillard: bluegrass musician, banjo player for the Dillards
• Richard Eastham (studied prior to World War II): actor
• George Pearse Ennis: painter and watercolorist
• Jon Feltheimer (AB 1972): CEO of Lionsgate Films
• Tom Friedman (BFA 1988) : Conceptual sculptor
• Bernard Fuchs (MFA 1954): painter and illustrator
• John Gardner (AB 1955): novelist
• Dave Garroway (AB 1936): Today Show host
• Elizabeth Graver (MFA 1999): novelist
• Robert Guillaume: stage and television actor
• John Hartford bluegrass fiddler and banjo player
• Henry Hampton (AB 1961): filmmaker; producer of PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize
• A. E. Hotchner (AB 1940, JD 1940): biographer and novelist (Papa Hemingway, King of the Hill)
• Fannie Hurst (AB 1909): writer and social activist
• Josephine Winslow Johnson (student 1926-1931): Pulitzer Prize-winning author
• Stan Kann (AB 1946): theater organist
• Johnny Kastl (AB, 1997): television actor (Scrubs)
• Hank Klibanoff (AB 1971): author and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Caryn Mandabach (AB 1970): Emmy award winning television and film producer of the Cosby Show among others^[2]

Actor Peter Sarsgaard.

• Edward Shepherd Mead (AB 1936): playwright ("How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying")
• David Merrick (AB 1934): Broadway producer
• Oliver Nelson (student 1954-1957): jazz musician and composer
• David McCheyne Newell: naturalist, writer
• Frank Nuderscher: American Impressionist painter and muralist
• J. D. Parran (AM 1971): jazz musician
• Dan Piraro: cartoonist of "Bizarro", (attended but dropped out)
• Robert Quine (JD 1968): rock guitarist
• Harold Ramis (AB 1966): film actor, writer and director
• Eugene B. Redmond (MA 1966): poet, critic, civil-rights activist^[3]
• Irma S. Rombauer (AB): co-author of The Joy of Cooking
• Allen Rucker: television writer and novelist
• Peter Sarsgaard (AB 1993): actor
• Steven Sater: Broadway lyricist, playwright, and poet
• Peter Saul (BFA 1956): Painter
• Michael Shamberg: video artist, producer
• Allan Trautman (AB 1976): Actor, puppeteer
• Jeff Tremaine (AB 1990): director, producer, co-creator of MTV's Jackass
• Andrew Volpe: Lead singer and rhythm guitarist for rock band Ludo.
• Lauren Weinstein (AB 1998): cartoonist
• Luke Whisnant (MFA 1982): novelist, short story writer
• Mary Wickes (AB 1930): stage, film, and television actress
• Tennessee Williams (student 1936-37): playwright
• Olly Wilson (AB 1959): composer^[4]

Architecture and design

• Charles Eames: designer, architect, filmmaker (Was expelled for his prediliction towards modern architecture)
• Hugh Ferriss (B.Arch 1911, M.Arch 1928): architect
• Alan Goldberg (1954) architect
• Gyo Obata (B.Arch 1945): architect; cofounder and chairman of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum
• James F. O'Gorman (B.Arch 1956): architectural historian and author
• C. P. Wang (M.Arch 1973): architect for Taipei 101, the world's tallest building as of 2005^[5]

Business

Adventurer and businessman Steve Fossett.

Charles Nagel founder of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

• William Bay (BA): President and CEO of Mel Bay
• John H. Biggs (PhD): former CEO of TIAA-CREF
• Carl M. Casale (MBA): executive vice president, North America Commercial division of Monsanto Company
• William H. Danforth (AB 1892): founder of Ralston Purina
• Arnold W. Donald (BSME 1977): CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines; former CEO of Merisant
• Steve Fossett (MBA 1968): options trader, balloonist, and adventurer
• Sam Fox (BSBA 1951): founder, chairman, CEO, and owner of Harbour Group Industries
• Avram Glazer (BSBA 1982): president and CEO of the Zapata Corporation and joint chairman of Manchester United
• Robert Hernreich (AB 1967): Co-Owner Sacramento Kings
• Douglas Lowenstein (AB 1973): founder and former president of Entertainment Software Association, former president and CEO of Private Equity Council
• Wade Miquelon (MBA 1989): CFO of Walgreens
• Edward Mueller (MBA): president and CEO of Qwest Communications
• Charles Nagel (JD 1872): United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor; founder of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Mike O'Brien (BA 1994): Great Lakes project director of Bluewater Wind
• Dave Peacock (MBA 2000): CEO of Anheuser-Busch
• Andrew Puzder (JD 1978): CEO of CKE Restaurants
• Aaron Selber, Jr.: studied in the School of Retailing; businessman and philanthropist in Shreveport, Louisiana^[6]
• William Shaw (MBA 1972): president and COO of Marriott International Inc.
• Louis B. Susman (JD 1962): vice chairman of Citigroup Global Markets
• Jack C. Taylor (student through 1944): founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car; no. 14 on Forbes 400 Richest Americans in 2006
• Jim Weddle (AB 1977, MBA): managing partner at Edward Jones Investments
• John B. Whyte (attended two years in 1950s): Developer of Fire Island Pines, New York
• Brian Willison (BFA 1995): Executive Director of Parsons Institute for Information Mapping
• Lewis Wolff (MBA 1961): hotel developer and owner of the Oakland Athletics
• George Zimmer (AB 1970): founder of Men's Wearhouse

Education and academics

• James F. Barker (AM 1973): president of Clemson University
• Jessie Bernard (Ph.D. 1935): sociologist and noted feminist scholar^[7]
• Ewald W. Busse (M.D.) former dean of the Duke University School of Medicine
• Thomas Lamb Eliot (AB 1862, AM 1866): founding board member and president of Reed College
• Henry Ware Eliot (AB 1863): father of poet T. S. Eliot; former president of the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis
• Nathan O. Hatch (AM 1972, PhD 1974): president of Wake Forest University
• Raelynn Hillhouse (AB): novelist, political scientist, national security expert
• Edward Singleton Holden (SB 1866): fifth president of the University of California; director of the Lick Observatory
• Robert C. Kolodny (MD 1969): author of numerous books on human sexuality
• Joyce Ladner (AM 1966, PhD 1968): sociologist and activist
• Max Lerner (AM 1925): intellectual, critic, and author
• Donald Livingston (PhD 1965): renowned constitutional scholar
• John L. Loos (PhD c. 1953): historian at Louisiana State University, researcher of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• Walter E. Massey (AM 1966, PhD 1966): president of Morehouse College
• Richard McKelvey (MA 1967): Political Scientist, specialized in mathematical theories of voting
• Horace Mitchell (AB 1968, MA 1969, PhD 1974): president of California State University Bakersfield
• Daniel Nathans (MD 1954): former president of Johns Hopkins University
• H. Richard Niebuhr (AM 1917): theologian
• Charles Van Ravenswaay (AB 1933, AM 1934): historian
• Abram L. Sachar (AB 1920, AM 1920): founding president of Brandeis University
• Song Ja (M.B.A. 1962, D.B.A. 1967): former president of Yonsei University; South Korean Minister of Education
• Chia-Wei Woo (MA, PhD): founding president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; first Asian American to head a major U.S. university (San Francisco State University)

Journalism and media

• Bill Dedman (student 1978-1981): Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of bestseller "Empty Mansions"
• Lynne "Angel" Cooper Harvey (AB, AM): producer of Paul Harvey News; inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame
• William G. Hyland (BA): editor of Foreign Affairs (1984–1993)
• Michael Isikoff (AB 1974): author and journalist
• Hank Klibanoff (AB 1971): Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former managing editor of Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Condé Nast (LLB 1897): publisher of Vogue
• Mike Peters (BFA 1965): Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist; creator of "Mother Goose and Grimm"
• Lisa Sharkey (AB 1980): Senior VP and Director of Creative Development at HarperCollins and Emmy Award-winning television producer

Politics, law, and government

General John C. Bates.

Phil Radford, environmental leader

• Carl J. Artman (JD): Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, and head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 2007–08.
• John C. Bates (BA 1863): served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army in 1906.
• Ben Cannon (AB 1999): State Representative to the Oregon House of Representatives, 2006–present, and Rhodes Scholar
• Henry S. Caulfield (JD 1895): Governor of Missouri, 1929–1933
• Michael Cherry (JD 1969): justice Supreme Court of Nevada, 2006-present
• Clark M. Clifford (LLB 1928): U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1968–69; former presidential advisor
• Earl Thomas Coleman (JD 1969): U.S. congressman from Missouri, 1977–1993
• Phoebe Couzins (LLB 1871): first female U.S. Marshal; feminist; leader in the Women's Suffrage Movement
• Edward Coke Crow (LLB 1879): 23rd Attorney General of Missouri from 1897–1905, advisor to Missouri Governor Lloyd Crow Stark (1937–1941)
• Hal Daub (BS 1963): U.S. congressman from Nebraska, 1981–1989; mayor of Omaha, 1995–2001
• Dwight F. Davis (LLB): founder of Davis Cup, and 49th US Secretary of War
• Alexander Monroe Dockery (MD 1865): Governor of Missouri, 1901–1905
• Alan J. Dixon (LLB 1949): U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1981–93
• Leonidas C. Dyer (JD 1893): U.S. congressman from Missouri, 1915–1933
• Edward Cranch Eliot (AB 1878, LLB 1880, AM 1881): former president of the American Bar Association
• Rocky Fitzsimmons: member of the West Virginia Senate
• Sam Fox (AB 1951): former United States Ambassador to Belgium
• David R. Francis (AB 1870): mayor of St. Louis, 1885–89; Governor of Missouri, 1889–93; U.S. Secretary of Interior, 1896–97; U.S. Ambassador to Russia
• Raymond W. Gruender (JD/MBA 1987): current judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Jean Constance Hamilton (JD 1971): current judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
• Harry B. Hawes (JD 1896): U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1926–1933
• Chic Hecht (BS 1949): U.S. Senator from Nevada, 1983–89
• Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (JD 1926): U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1951–1960
• William L. Igoe (JD 1902): U.S. congressman from Missouri, 1913–1921
• Alphonso Jackson (JD 1972): U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 2004–2008
• Chris Koster (MBA 2002): Attorney General of Missouri
• Jasna Matić (MBA 2001): Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society of Serbia
• Victor J. Miller (JD): mayor of St. Louis, 1925 to 1933
• John Francis Nangle (JD 1948): former chief judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1983–1990
• Roscoe C. Patterson (JD 1897): US Senator from Missouri, 1929–1935

Judge William H. Webster 6th Director of the FBI and 14th Director of the CIA.

• Catherine D. Perry (JD 1981): current judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
• Phil Radford (BA 1998): environmental, clean energy and democracy leader, Executive Director, Greenpeace
• Tony Ribaudo (1962): majority leader of the Missouri House of Representatives, 1977–1997
• Kenneth J. Rothman (AB, JD): Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, 1981–1985
• Steven Rothman (JD 1977): US Congressmen from New Jersey, 1997–present
• David Rubenstein (activist) (BA 1981): advocate, founding executive director Save Darfur Coalition
• Phyllis Schlafly (AB 1944, JD 1978): author,lawyer, conservative and antifeminist activist
• Mike Simpson (DMD 1977): U.S. congressman from Idaho, 1999–present
• Rodney W. Sippel (JD 1980): current judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
• Luther Ely Smith (JD 1897): founder of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
• Ralph Tyler Smith (JD 1940): U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1969–1970
• Adam Shapiro (AB 1993): co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement
• Selden P. Spencer (JD 1886): U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1918–1925
• Leonor Sullivan (1923): first U.S. congressional representative from Missouri, 1953–1977
• Louis Susman (JD): current United States Ambassador to Great Britain
• Eben Swift: U.S. Army Major General
• Jim Talent (AB 1978): U.S. Senator from Missouri, 2003–2007
• Richard B. Teitelman (JD 1973): current justice, Supreme Court of Missouri
• James R. Thompson (AB 1956): Governor of Illinois, 1977–1991
• Raymond Tucker (BS 1920): mayor of St. Louis, 1953–1965
• Tarisa Watanagase (PhD): governor of the Bank of Thailand, 2006
• William H. Webster (JD 1949): 14th director of the CIA and the 6th director of the FBI
• Xenophon P. Wilfley (JD 1899): U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1918
• George Howard Williams (JD 1897): U.S. Senator from Missouri, 1925–1926
• Shien Biau Woo (PhD 1964): Asian American political activist; former Lieutenant Governor of Delaware
• Chen Zhangliang (PhD 1987): Vice Governor of Guangxi, People's Republic of China

Science, engineering, and medicine

Admiral Ben Moreell.

• J. Michael Bailey (AB 1979): psychologist, professor, well-known researcher on sexual orientation
• Geoffrey Ballard (PhD 1963): developed Fuel cells; member of Order of Canada; founder of Ballard Power Systems
• Lt. Col. Robert Behnken (BSPhy 1992, BSME 1992): NASA Astronaut
• Ewald W. Busse (M.D.) dean of the Duke University School of Medicine (1974–1982)
• Clyde Cowan (AM, PhD 1949): co-discoverer of the neutrino
• Elizabeth A. Craig, biochemistry professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Arnold W. Donald (BS): President and CEO of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
• Eric Green (MD PhD 1987): Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute
• Lee Harrison III (BFA 1952, BS 1959): engineer; Emmy winner for invention of computer animation
• Julian Hill (BS 1924): chemist; co-inventor of nylon
• Charlotte Jacobs (MD 1972): noted clinical oncologist, former director of the Clinical Cancer Center at Stanford University
• Edwin Krebs (MD 1943): Nobel laureate in medicine for work with protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism
• Appu Kuttan: Founder of the National Education Foundation
• J. C. R. Licklider (BS 1937): pioneer in computer science and artificial intelligence
• W. E. Moerner (BS 1975) : Stanford University professor; pioneer in single molecule spectroscopy and member of the National Academy of Sciences
• Ben Moreell (BS 1913): U.S. Navy admiral; founder of the Navy's Seabees construction battalions
• Daniel Nathans (MD 1954): Nobel laureate in medicine for the discovery of restriction enzymes; awarded National Medal of Science
• Alton Ochsner (MD): surgeon and medical researcher at The Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans
• Fred Olsen (PhD): inventor of the ball propellant manufacturing process^[8]
• Michael E. Phelps (PhD 1970): developed PET scan
• Pejman Salimpour, physician who successfully challenged the legality of exclusivity agreements between hospitals and doctors' groups.
• Joseph Edward Smadel (MD): inaugural recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research
• Sol Spiegelman (PhD 1944): molecular biologist
• Samuel Stanley (MD 1980): 5th President of stony Brook University
• Earl Sutherland (MD 1942): Nobel laureate in medicine for elucidating the mechanisms of the actions of hormones
• Kenneth S. Wagoner (MA, 1934; PhD 1938), experimental psychologist
• Michael J. Wendl (1958) engineering in terrain following technology and energy management theory
• Walter Wyman (MD 1873): 3rd US Surgeon General
• William Kincaid (BS 1988): costume manufacturer and artist

Sports

• Jimmy Conzelman (BS 1917): professional football player and coach; enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Harvey Jablonsky: football player and U.S Army Veteran; enshrined in College Football Hall of Fame
• Jennifer Martz: National volleyball player of the year
• Dal Maxvill (BS): professional baseball player, former St. Louis Cardinals general manager
• Muddy Ruel (JD): professional baseball catcher; member of 1924 World Champion Washington Senators
• Shelby Jordan (BA 1974): professional football player; enshrined in College Football Hall of Fame
• George Herbert Walker (LLB 1897): founder of Walker Cup in golf; grandfather and great-grandfather of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively
• Charley Winner: longtime coach in the National Football League
• Lewis Wolff (MBA 1961): owner of the Oakland Athletics

References

Washington University in St. Louis Academics Centers and Institutes Libraries School of Arts and Sciences Olin Business School School of Engineering and Applied Science School of Law School of Medicine George Warren Brown School of Social Work Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Historical: Washington University School of Dental Medicine List of Nobel Laureates The Genome Institute Campus Brookings Hall Crow Observatory Danforth Campus Medical Campus Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum North and West Campuses Tyson Research Center Athletics Bears Francis Field Francis Gymnasium People Notable alumni Chancellors Faculty and staff Affiliated Nobel laureates William Greenleaf Eliot, founder History Historical overview Historic District Campus life Mosaic Whispers KWUR Radio Residential colleges Student Life Thurtene Carnival WILD

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