# List of people from Utica, New York

This article lists notable people from Utica, New York.

## Academics and scientists

* Henry D. Abelove – historian and literary critic
* Daniel Barwick – higher education administrator, teacher, author, fundraiser, journalist, and podcaster; president of Independence Community College
* Albert Perry Brigham – geologist
* Amariah Brigham – psychiatrist and founding member of American Psychiatric Association
* Robert E. Brown – ethnomusicologist, coined the term "world music"
* John Seely Brown – organizational studies researcher and author; director of PARC and chief scientist at Xerox
* James Dwight Dana - geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist
* Bob Van Dillen – meteorologist
* Elizabeth E. Farrell – educator
* Russell H. Fazio – psychologist and professor at Ohio State University
* Henry S. Fitch – herpetologist
* Asa Gray – botanist
* John P. Gray – psychiatrist; psychiatric expert in the trial for the assassination of president James A. Garfield and superintendent of the Utica Psychiatric Center
* Marilyn E. Jacox – physical chemist
* Milton Kerker – physical chemist; namesake of the Kerker effect
* Paul Krugman – economist who is a professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York; columnist for the New York Times
* Cherilla Storrs Lowrey – educator and clubwoman; founder and chairwoman of The Outdoor Circle
* Matthew D. Mann – gynecologist; surgeon who operated on President William McKinley after he was shot
* Walter C. Michels – physicist and professor at Bryn Mawr College
* Eugene Paul Nassar – writer, editor, professor, and literary critic
* Otto M. Nikodym – Polish mathematician
* Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters – astronomer
* John Ballard Rendall – president of Lincoln University, Latin professor, member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and minister
* Robert J. Sampson – sociologist, president of the American Society of Criminology, and Harvard professor
* Hermann von Wechlinger Schulte – anatomist and dean of Creighton University School of Medicine
* Deborah F. Stanley – chancellor of the State University of New York and president of the State University of New York at Oswego
* Susan Stone – nurse midwife; president of Frontier Nursing University
* Walter Sutton - geneticist and biologist; co-developer of the Boveri–Sutton chromosome theory
* Michael Sweet – computer scientist known for being the original developer of CUPS
* E. Fuller Torrey – psychiatrist and schizophrenia researcher
* Samuel Wells Williams – linguist, sinologist, and missionary
* Sam Wineburg – educational and cognitive psychologist
* Peter T. Wolczanski – chemist and Cornell professor
* Mary E. Young – historian

## Actors and entertainers

* Lester Allen – actor, dancer, acrobat
* Kim Bass – director, screenwriter, and producer
* Yale Boss – actor
* Steven Brill – actor, film producer, director, and screenwriter
* Adelaide Bronti – actress and operatic singer
* Victor Bumbalo – actor and playwright
* Frank Cappelli – creator of Cappelli & Company
* Dick Cerri – disc jockey
* Dick Clark – television and radio personality and television producer
* Leonard Crofoot – actor, singer, dancer, writer and choreographer
* John Curran – director and screenwriter
* Natalie Dagwell – burlesque performer, dancer, and singer
* F. A. Dobson – cinematographer
* Frank Dumont – performer, sketch writer, and songwriter
* Robert Earle – game show host and voice actor
* John A. Ellsler – actor
* John Eskow – screenwriter
* Joseph Franz – director and actor
* Annette Funicello – actress and singer
* Donna Hanover – radio and television personality, television producer, and actress
* John William Isham – vaudeville impresario
* Jim Jackson – sportscaster and television and radio host
* Mary Lawlor – actress
* David Mancuso – disc jockey; creator of "The Loft"
* Jerry Mandy – actor
* Rex Marshall – actor, television announcer, and radio personality
* Ron O'Neal – actor, director, and screenwriter
* Tiffany Pollard – television personality
* Daniel Pritzker – director and musician
* Tim Roye – sports announcer and radio host
* Ralph Sheheen – sports announcer and television host
* Hal Smith – actor
* Anna Townsend – actress and frequent Harold Lloyd collaborator
* Matteo Vittucci – dancer

## Artists and architects

* Brad Anderson – cartoonist; creator of Marmaduke
* Mark Bodé – cartoonist; son of Vaughn Bodē
* Vaughn Bodē – cartoonist and illustrator; graduated from Proctor High School
* Neave Brown – architect and artist
* Arthur Bowen Davies – avant-garde artist and advocate of modern art
* Daniel DeWitt Tompkins Davie – photographer; pioneer of the daguerreotype
* Edward Brodhead Green – architect
* Absalom Barrett Hallock – architect
* Henry Inman – portrait, genre, and landscape painter
* Sheldon Keck – paintings conservator
* Rose Marasco – photographer
* Daniel Nicoletta – photographer
* Maurice J. Power – sculptor
* Joe Zane – painter, sculptor, video and performance artist, and humorist

## Athletes and athletics personnel

* Irving Baxter – gold medalist in the men's high jump and the pole vault at the 1900 Summer Olympics
* Alonzo Breitenstein – baseball player
* George Burns – baseball player
* Tim Capstraw – basketball coach and color commentator
* Dave Cash – baseball player
* Dominick Dawes – ice hockey coach
* George Detore – baseball player
* Louie Ehrensbeck – biathlon skier who competed in the 1968 Winter Olympics
* Robert Esche – hockey player
* Jim Fairbank – baseball player
* Chris Garrett – football player
* Mike Griffin – baseball player
* Jimmie Hunt – basketball player
* Ilia Jarostchuk – football player
* James Joseph – curler
* Mark Lemke – baseball player
* Charles B. Mason – football player and coach
* Dave McKeough – baseball player
* Art Mills – baseball player; coach for the 1945 World Series champion Detroit Tigers
* Willie Mills – baseball player
* Bill Morehouse – curler
* Nick Palmieri – hockey player
* Hardy Richardson – baseball player
* Harry Raymond – baseball player
* Len Rossi – wrestler who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance; member of the NWA Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
* Bernard Russ – football player
* Al Salerno – baseball umpire
* Michael Slive – commissioner of the Southeastern Conference
* Andy Van Slyke – baseball player
* Will Smith – football player
* Lou Lazzaro – modified racing driver
* Hal White – baseball player
* George Burrell Woodin – wrestler; better known by his stage name "Mr. Wrestling"

## Business figures

* Richard H. Balch – Vice President of the Horrocks-Ibbotson Company, co-founder of Utica University
* Harry H. Bassett – automotive executive who served as president of Buick
* Joseph H. Boardman – CEO of Amtrak and administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration
* John Butterfield – founder of American Express
* John C. Devereux – pioneering Irish Catholic and philanthropist; co-founder of the Savings Bank of Utica
* Nicholas Devereux – financier, banker, and philanthropist; founder of St. Bonaventure University
* Arthur Hind – textile industrialist and philatelist
* Henry J. Kaiser – industrialist; fosterer of modern American health care; founder of Kaiser Aluminum, Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser-Frazer, Kaiser Motors, and Kaiser Broadcasting
* Joseph Mailman – businessman, investor, and philanthropist; founder of the Mailman Corporation, the Persona Blade Company, and the British Rubber Company; assisted families escaping Nazi Germany
* Alonzo C. Mather – founder and president of the Mather Stock Car Company
* Sue Mengers – talent agent
* William Henry Moore – financier; co-founder of Nabisco, Western Union the Diamond Match Company, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, the American Can Company, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, and Bankers Trust
* Theron T. Pond – businessman and pharmacist; founder of Pond's
* Andy Rubin – computer programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist; founder of Android Inc.
* Arthur William Savage – inventor; founder of Savage Arms
* Richard Stark – fashion designer; co-founder of Chrome Hearts
* Kenny Friedkin – aviator and businessman; founder of Pacific Southwest Airlines
* William Williams – printer and publisher
* Frank Winfield Woolworth – entrepreneur; founder of F. W. Woolworth Company
* Steve Wynn – real estate developer and art collector best known for his involvement in the casino and hotel industry

## Lawyers and jurists

* Fritz Beebe – lawyer and chairman of the board of The Washington Post Company
* Francis Marion Burdick – legal scholar and a mayor of Utica
* Richard J. Cardamone – circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
* John D. Caton – chief justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois
* Ward Hunt – associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
* Alexander S. Johnson – judge
* Hugh R. Jones – served as an Associate Judge on the New York Court of Appeals
* James F. Lewis – chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada
* John J. Marquette – judge of the United States Tax Court
* Charles Mason – justice of the New York Supreme Court
* Louis M. Martin – justice of the New York Supreme Court
* Harry S. Patten – lawyer and politician

## Military figures

* William Anders – Air Force major general, electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman
* Jacksel M. Broughton – Air Force colonel and author; retired with 43 separate awards and decorations, including four Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Silver Stars and the Air Force Cross
* Daniel Butterfield – Union army general and Assistant Treasurer of the United States
* Mark Divine – Navy SEAL commander
* Ferris Foreman – Mexican-American War veteran, Union army colonel, and California 49er
* Edward F. Jones – Union army officer, merchant, manufacturer, author and politician
* James H. Ledlie - Union army general and civil engineer
* William Mervine - Navy real admiral, served during the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War
* James A. Mulligan - Union army colonel
* Jedediah Sanger – Continental Army first lieutenant, politician, judge, and founder of New Hartford
* Richard Henry Savage – military officer and author, potential inspiration for the pulp novel character Doc Savage
* Benjamin Walker – Continental Army officer, businessman, and politician

## Musicians

* Carlos Alexander – operatic singer
* Joe Bonamassa – blues rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter
* Bruce Burger – singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer
* Fran Cosmo – musician best known as a former lead singer of the rock bands Boston and Orion the Hunter
* Tommy DeCarlo – singer who is the current lead vocalist for the rock band Boston
* Earthstar – electronic music group
* Arthur Fields – singer-songwriter
* Debbie Friedman – singer-songwriter of religious Jewish music
* Lincoln Holroyd – performer, band leader, and music educator
* Howard Kaylan – musician and songwriter; member of The Turtles, Flo & Eddie, and The Mothers of Invention
* David Eric Lowen – half of the songwriting team Lowen & Navarro
* Joseph Michael – lead singer of Sanctuary, former member of White Wizzard, Midnight Reign and Peppermint Creeps
* moe. – jam rock band
* J. R. Monterose – jazz saxophonist
* Barbara Owen – organist
* Rosetta Reitz - remastering engineer, record label owner, concert organizer, jazz historian, and activist
* B. A. Rolfe – bandleader, recording artist, radio personality, and film producer
* Sofronio Vasquez – Filipino singer; winner of season 26 of The Voice
* Jan Williams – percussionist, conductor, and composer
* Jimmy Wormworth – jazz drummer
* Ronnie Zito – jazz musician; drummer for Bobby Darin, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt
* Torrie Zito – pianist, composer, and conductor; string arranger for John Lennon

## Religion and philosophy

* Leopoldina Burns – religious sister; close companion and biographer of Marianne Cope during the 1883 Hansen’s Disease epidemic on the island of Moloka’i, Hawaii
* Marianne Cope – religious sister and Roman Catholic saint
* George Washington Gale – minister, founder of the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry
* Asa Jennings – pastor who organized the evacuation of 350,000 Christian refugees from the shores of Smyrna
* Alexander Bryan Johnson – philosopher and semanticist; married to the granddaughter of president John Adams
* Samuel Kirkland Lothrop – clergyman and writer
* John Timothy Stone – clergyman
* Granville M. Williams – priest, monk, and writer

## Social reformers

* Jane Louisa Hardy – activist and philanthropist
* Jermain Wesley Loguen – abolitionist, bishop, teacher, and author
* Gerrit Smith – social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist
* Charles Stuart – Bermudian-born abolitionist and military officer
* Theodore Dwight Weld – early architect of the abolitionist movement

## Politicians

* Joseph Ackroyd – New York State senator
* Campbell W. Adams – civil engineer, surveyor and politician; New York State Engineer and Surveyor
* Dean Alfange – politician, Greek-American activist
* Josh J. Allen – New York State Assembly member and Supervisor of Elections for the Eastern District of New York
* Mike Arcuri – U.S. congressman
* William J. Bacon – U.S. congressman
* Wesley Bailey – politician and newspaper editor
* William Baker – Speaker of the New York State Assembly and Erie Canal Commissioner
* Samuel Beardsley – U.S. congressman
* Sherwood Boehlert – U.S. congressman
* Alvan E. Bovay – Wisconsin State Assembly representative; one of the founders of the Republican Party
* Anthony Brindisi – U.S. congressman
* William S. Calli – New York State Assembly member and New York State senator
* John T. Clark – civil engineer and politician
* Alfred Conkling – U.S. congressman, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, and United States Minister to Mexico
* Roscoe Conkling – U.S. congressman
* Simon Newton Dexter – politician and merchant
* Fred J. Douglas – U.S. congressman
* Russell G. Dunmore – New York State Assembly member
* Rufus Elefante – Democratic political boss
* William Jay Gaynor – mayor of New York City and political reformer
* Alexander T. Goodwin – New York State senator
* John K. Hackett – Recorder of New York City
* Richard Hanna – U.S. congressman
* Thomas H. Hubbard – U.S. congressman
* Thomas Lemuel James – United States Postmaster General, journalist, and banker
* Francis Kernan – U.S. congressman
* Michael J. Kernan – New York State Assembly member and New York State senator
* Joseph Kirkland – U.S. congressman
* Orsamus Benajah Matteson – U.S. congressman
* John T. McKennan – New York State Assembly member
* Henry Merrill – Wisconsin State senator, pioneer, and merchant
* Victor H. Metcalf – Secretary of Commerce and Labor and Secretary of the Navy under Theodore Rosevelt
* Rutger B. Miller – U.S. congressman
* Cyrus D. Prescott – U.S. congressman
* Alexander Pirnie – U.S. congressman
* William H. Ray – U.S. congressman
* John A. Roche – mayor of Chicago
* Theodore S. Sayre – New York State senator and businessman
* William R. Sears – New York State Assembly member and New York State senator
* Henry Seymour – politician, merchant, banker
* Horatio Seymour – politician who served as New York State Governor
* Walter Sheridan – FBI investigator and author
* Carrie Babcock Sherman – wife of Vice President James S. Sherman, second lady of the United States
* James Schoolcraft Sherman – lawyer and politician who served as 27th vice president of the United States
* Fred Sisson – U.S. congressman
* John T. Spriggs – U.S. congressman
* Henry R. Storrs – U.S. congressman
* Charles A. Talcott – U.S. congressman
* Enoch B. Talcott – New York State senator
* William B. Taylor – civil engineer and politician; New York State Engineer and Surveyor
* William Townsend – New York State Assembly member and New York State senator
* Benjamin Welch – New York State Treasurer
* Chandler J. Wells – prominent builder who served as mayor of Buffalo, New York
* Philo White – Wisconsin State senator
* John Williams – U.S. congressman
* James Zogby – founder of the Arab American Institute

## Writers and journalists

* Mary C. Ames – novelist, poet, and journalist
* Daniel Barwick – writer, fundraiser, journalist, podcaster, higher education administrator, and teacher
* Allan Beekman – writer and reporter
* Richard Benedetto – political reporter and columnist
* Eric Boehlert – journalist, writer, and media critic
* Ray Bremser – poet
* Dan Cameron – writer and contemporary art curator
* Daryl Cobb – author of children's books
* Jane Elizabeth Conklin – poet and religious writer
* Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún – Irish-American homesteader and composer of American poetry in the Irish language
* John Elliott Curran – novelist
* Mark Danner – writer, journalist, and educator
* Georgia Roberts Durston – novelist and poet
* David Skaats Foster – novelist
* Harold Frederic – journalist and novelist
* Charles E. Fritch – fantasy, science fiction, horror, and mystery novelist
* Joanne Grant – journalist and activist
* Michael Kernan – writer and Washington Post journalist
* Alen Pol Kobryn – novelist, poet, and voice actor
* John D. MacDonald – writer and best-selling crime novelist
* Don Mathisen – journalist, broadcaster, voice-over actor, and elected official
* HP Newquist – writer, museum founder and curator, and musician
* Ryan Nobles – journalist
* Grace May North – newspaper journalist and author of novels for children and adolescents
* Charles Quinn – journalist and NBC News reporter
* Dan Senor – columnist, writer, and political advisor to Mitt Romney
* John Zogby – political pollster, author, and public speaker; founder of the Zogby poll and the Zogby International poll

## Other

* Bianca Devins – teenager who was murdered by a male acquaintance
* Edward P. Felt – passenger on United Flight 93
* Lewis Lawrence – founder of Eatonville, Florida, the oldest incorporated Black town in the U.S
* John Thomas Moss – frontiersman, prospector, and miner
* Nyah Mway – teenager who was killed by an officer of the Utica Police Department
* Samuel Manning Todd – founding member of the Mistick Krewe of Comus, the oldest extant New Orleans, Louisiana Carnival Krewe
* Michael Zarnock – Hot Wheels collector and two-time Guinness World Record holder

## Fictional characters

* Gary Chalmers – superintendent of Springfield School District on the animated sitcom The Simpsons
* Karen Filippelli – regional manager of the Utica branch of Dunder Mifflin on the mockumentary sitcom The Office
* Uncle Leo – Alice Kramden's uncle on The Honeymooners