# List of Riverdale Country School alumni

This list of alumni of Riverdale Country School includes graduates and students who did not graduate.

## List of alumni

* Dan Abrams (class of 1984), chief legal affairs anchor for ABC News.
* Virginia Abernethy (born 1934), anthropologist
* Josh Appelbaum, television writer
* Sosie Bacon (born 1992), actress
* Charlie Barnet (1913–1991), jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader.
* Jacqueline Barton (born 1952), chemist
* Rosalyn Baxandall (1939–2015), historian
* Cliff Bayer (born 1977), Olympic foil fencer
* Lisa Birnbach (born 1956, class of 1974), author of The Official Preppy Handbook
* Richard Blumenthal (born 1946), U.S. Senator from Connecticut.
* Niesha Butler, basketball player, actress.
* DJ Cassidy (born 1981), DJ, record producer.
* Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (1920–1948), socialite.
* Louis Ozawa Changchien (born 1975), actor
* Chevy Chase (born 1943), actor
* Suzan Johnson Cook (born 1957), pastor and activist.
* Jonathan Dean (1924–2014), United States Ambassador to Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions talks
* Richard Engel (born 1973), NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
* Harry Enten (born 1988), political journalist
* Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021), artist and social activist
* Varian Fry (1907–1967), journalist who ran a program helping thousands of Jewish refugees escape from Nazi Germany.
* Peter Galison (born 1955), Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in history of science and physics at Harvard University
* Alexander Garvin (1941–2021), urban planner
* James Gleick (born 1954), science writer.
* Leopold Godowsky Jr. (1900–1983), co-creator of the first color transparency film
* Rachel Hadas (born 1948), poet, teacher, essayist, and translator
* Calvin Hill (born 1947, class of 1965), former NFL player
* Molly Jong-Fast (born 1978), journalist and author
* John Kao (born 1950), author and strategic advisor
* Claude Kelly (born 1980), singer, songwriter and music producer.
* Ron Kim (born 1979), politician
* John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), President of the United States, attended Riverdale's Lower School
* Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968), U.S. senator
* Carlos Kleiber (1930–2004), conductor
* Gerard Koeppel (born 1975), author, historian, and journalist
* Robert Krulwich (born 1947), radio and television journalist
* John Lahr (born 1941), theater critic
* David Levin (born 1963), CEO of McGraw-Hill Education
* Leopold Mannes (1899–1964), co-creator of Kodachrome, the first color transparency film
* Lee MacPhail (1917–2012), Baseball Hall-of-Fame front-office executive
* Megan McArdle (born 1973), blogger and journalist
* Nick McDonell (born 1984), author
* Fred Melamed (born 1956), actor
* Howard Milstein, real estate developer
* Steven Mnuchin (born 1962) United States Secretary of the Treasury 2017–2021
* Wes Moore (born 1978), Governor of Maryland
* Tim Morehouse (born 1978), fencer who was a 2008 Olympic silver medalist
* William C. W. Mow (born 1936), entrepreneur, chairman and CEO of Bugle Boy Industries
* André Nemec (born 1972), screenwriter
* Robin Pogrebin (born 1965), journalist
* Ed Rendell (born 1944), Governor of Pennsylvania.
* Cesar Romero (1907–1994), actor.
* Clifford Ross (born 1952), photographer and artist
* Tracee Ellis Ross (born 1972), actress
* Andy Russell, founder and CEO of Trigger Media
* Carly Simon (born 1943), singer.
* Scott Snyder, author.
* Jordana Spiro (born 1977), actor.
* Max Stafford-Clark, an English theatre director
* Ratan Tata (1937–2024), former chairman of Tata Group
* Jeffrey Vinik (born 1959), owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
* Joss Whedon (born 1964), writer, director, and executive producer; creator of several television series (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity)
* David Yazbek (born 1961), composer, lyricist, writer of Broadway shows and TV including The Full Monty, The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, etc.
* Tim Zagat (class of 1957), restaurant critic
* Michael Zakarin, guitarist for The Bravery