# List of Philolexian Society members

The Philolexian Society of Columbia University is one of the oldest college literary and debate societies in the United States. Following is a partial list of Philolexian Society members organized by area of notability.

## Architecture and engineering

| Name | Class | Notability | References |
| Julian Clarence Levi | 1894 | Architect | |
| William Barclay Parsons | 1879 | Civil engineer and founder of Parsons Brinckerhoff | |

## Business

| Name | Class | Notability |
| Horatio Allen | 1823 | President of Erie Railroad, civil engineer, and inventor |
| William Backhouse Astor Sr. | 1811 | Business magnate |
| William Backhouse Astor Jr. | 1849 | Businessman, racehorse owner and breeder, and yachtsman |
| Douglas Black | 1915 | President of Doubleday and Company |
| Stuyvesant Fish | 1871 | Illinois Central Railroad president |
| Robert Goelet | 1860 | Businessman and yachtsman |
| James Lenox | 1818 | President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, bibliophile, and philanthropist |
| Ward Melville | 1909 | Founding president of Thom McAn, Melville Corporation (CVS Health), and philanthropist behind Stony Brook University |
| John Lloyd Stephens | 1822 | Founder and vice president of the Panama Railroad Company, Special Ambassador to Central America, explorer, and author |
| John Aikman Stewart | 1840 | Banker |
| William R. Travers | 1838 | Businessman and first president of the Saratoga Race Course |
| Lawrence Wien | 1925 | Real instate investor and attorney who pioneered real estate syndicates |

## Clergy

| Name | Class | Notability |
| George Washington Bethune | 1823 | Preacher-pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church |
| Jackson Kemper | 1809 | First missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States |
| Thomas Merton | 1938 | Trappist monk, writer, theologian, and poet |
| James B. Nies | 1882 | Episcopal minister and Assyriologist |
| Benjamin T. Onderdonk | 1809 | Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York |
| Henry Onderdonk | 1805 | Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania |
| Marvin Vincent | 1854 | Presbyterian minister and professor |

## Education

| Name | Class | Notability |
| Charles Anthon | 1815 | Classical scholar and educator |
| William Anthony Aery | 1904 | Professor of social science and director of education at the Hampton Institute, editor of the Southern Workman |
| Donald Barr | 1941 | Dalton School headmaster |
| Wm. Theodore de Bary | 1941 | East Asian scholar and Columbia University provost |
| Jacques Barzun | 1927 | Historian, provost, and University Professor at Columbia University |
| Robert Fulton Cutting | 1871 | President of Cooper Union, financier, and philanthropist |
| Robert Emory | 1831 | President of Dickinson College |
| Dixon Ryan Fox | 1911 | Union College president |
| Mott T. Greene | 1967 | Historian of science and academic |
| Robert Gutman | | Sociologist and a lecturer in social and environmental studies at Princeton University's School of Architecture |
| Frank S. Hackett | 1899 | Educator, founder of Riverdale Country Day School, and pioneer in the Country Day School movement |
| Carl Hovde | 1950 | Columbia College Dean |
| James Hall Mason Knox | 1841 | Lafayette College president |
| Arthur MacMahon | 1912 | Political scientist and pioneer in the academic study of public administration |
| Robert Marshak | 1936 | City College of New York president |
| Brander Matthews | 1871 | Academic and literary critic |
| Parker Thomas Moon | 1913 | Political scientist and researcher on international peace |
| Nathaniel F. Moore | 1802 | President of Columbia College |
| Steven Raphael | 1963 | economist, professor of public policy at Goldman School of Public Policy, and adjunct fellow at Public Policy Institute of California |
| Victoria Rosner | 1990 | Dean of NYU Gallatin School and ean of Academic Affairs at Columbia University |
| Edwin R. A. Seligman | 1878 | Economist and academic |
| William Milligan Sloane | 1868 | Historian, professor at Princeton University, and coach of the first U.S. Olympic team |
| Howard Spodek | 1963 | Professor of history and geography and urban studies at Temple University |
| Paul van K. Thomson | 1940 | Professor and vice president for academic affairs of Providence College, Catholic priest, and author |
| John Howard Van Amringe | 1860 | Mathematician and the first Dean of Columbia College |
| Eugene Victor Wolfenstein | 1962 | Social theorist, psychoanalyst, and a professor of political science at University of California, Los Angeles |

## Entertainment

| Name | Class | Notability |
| Sidney Buchman | 1923 | Film producer and Oscar-winning screenwriter |
| I. A. L. Diamond | 1941 | Oscar-winning screenwriter |
| Bernard M. L. Ernst | 1905 | Magician and associate of Harry Houdini. |
| Orrin Keepnews | 1943 | Grammy-winning record producer |
| William Ludwig | 1932 | Oscar-winning screenwriter and co-founder of the Writers Guild of America |
| Robert C. Schnitzer | 1927 | Actor, producer, educator, and theater administrator |
| Ben Stein | 1966 | Actor, comedian, and commentator |
| Garth Stein | 1987 | Academy Award-winning film producer, screenwriter, and novelist |
| John La Touche | 1937 | Lyricist for Cabin in the Sky and The Golden Apple |
| Kenneth Webb | 1906 | Film director, screenwriter, and composer |
| Gideon Yago | 2000 | MTV personality |

## Law

| Name | Class | Notability |
| Willard Bartlett | 1869 | Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals |
| Samuel Blatchford | 1837 | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Edgar M. Cullen | 1860 | Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals |
| James W. Gerard | 1890 | Justice of the New York Supreme Court and U.S. Ambassador to Germany |
| Arthur Lazarus Jr. | 1946 | American Indian rights lawyer |
| John Henry Livingston | 1869 | Lawyer |
| John McKeon | 1825 | U.S. House of Representatives and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York |
| Edward Mitchell | 1861 | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and member of the New York State Assembly |
| Frederic de Peyster | 1816 | Lawyer |
| William M. Price | 1805 | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York |
| Benjamin Aymar Sands | 1874 | Lawyer |
| Theodore Sedgwick | 1827 | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York |
| Charles H. Tuttle | 1899 | United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York |
| Paul Windels | 1908 | lawyer and Corporation Counsel of New York City |

## Literature and journalism

| Name | Class | Notability |
| James Warner Bellah | 1923 | Western writer |
| Elliott V. Bell | 1925 | BusinessWeek publisher, a financial writer for The New York Times, and New York State Superintendent of Banks |
| John Berryman | 1936 | poet, scholar, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Randolph Bourne | 1912 | Essayist and critic |
| McAlister Coleman | 1909 | Journalist, author, and political activist |
| David Cort | 1924 | foreign news editor of Life |
| Julien T. Davies | 1866 | Writer |
| Evert Augustus Duyckinck | 1835 | Biographer and publisher |
| Jason Epstein | 1949 | Co-founder of The New York Review of Books, co-founder of Library of America, and founder of Anchor Books |
| Edgar Fawcett | 1867 | Novelist and poet |
| William Dudley Foulke | 1869 | Literary critic, journalist, poet, and reformer |
| Allen Ginsberg | 1948 | Poet, author, and winner of the National Book Award |
| Robert Giroux | 1936 | Publisher, chairman and editor-in-chief of Farrar Straus & Giroux |
| Robert Gottlieb | 1952 | Editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, president and editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf, and editor of The New Yorker |
| Alfred Harcourt | 1904 | Publisher and co-founder of Harcourt Brace; |
| John Hollander | 1950 | Poet |
| Richard Howard | 1951 | Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and translator |
| Joyce Kilmer | 1908 | Poet and literary critic |
| Gustav Kobbé | 1877 | Music critic and author |
| Henry Demarest Lloyd | 1867 | Pioneer muckraking journalist and progressive political activist |
| Jay Michaelson | 1993 | Writer, journalist, professor, rabbi, commentator on CNN, and a columnist for Rolling Stone |
| John L. O'Sullivan | 1831 | Magazine editor and columnist who coined the phrase manifest destiny and U.S. Minister to Portugal |
| Sam Quinones | 1964 | Journalist and author |
| Ed Rice | 1940 | Author, publisher, photojournalist, and painter |
| Henry Morton Robinson | 1923 | Novelist |
| Garth Stein | 1987 | Novelist and Academy Award-winning film producer |
| George Templeton Strong | 1838 | Diarist |
| Ralph de Toledano | 1938 | Editor of Newsweek and the National Review, journalist, author, poet, and novelist |
| Thomas Vinciguerra | 1985 | Journalist, editor, author, and founding editor of The Week |
| Walter Wager | 1944 | Novelist |
| Samuel Ward | 1831 | Poet and lobbyist |

## Medicine, science, and math

| Name | Class | Notability |
| Cornelius Rea Agnew | 1849 | Surgeon and medical director of the New York Volunteer Hospital |
| Gavin Arthur | 1924 | Sexologist, astrologer, actor, and magazine publisher |
| Robert N. Butler | 1949 | Pulitzer Prize-winning gerontologist |
| James Chapin | 1916 | ornithologist and curator of the American Museum of Natural History |
| Oliver Wolcott Gibbs | 1841 | Chemist and president of the National Academy of Sciences |
| Emory McClintock | 1859 | actuary |

## Military

| Name | Class | Notability | References |
| John Chrystie | 1806 | War of 1812 veteran and namesake of Chrystie Street in Manhattan | |
| Alfred Thayer Mahan | 1858 | Military theorist, United States naval officer, president of the Naval War College, and historian | |

## Politics

| Name | Class | Notability |
| Martin C. Ansorge | 1903 | United States House of Representatives |
| Elliott V. Bell | 1925 | New York State Superintendent of Banks, BusinessWeek publisher, and a financial writer for The New York Times |
| Frederic René Coudert Jr. | 1918 | United States House of Representatives from New York and member of New York's Rapp-Coudert Committee |
| Isaac C. Delaplaine | 1834 | United States House of Representatives |
| Charles G. Ferris | 1811 | United States House of Representatives |
| Hamilton Fish | 1827 | United States Secretary of State |
| Hamilton Fish II | 1869 | Speaker of the New York State Assembly and U.S. Congressman |
| Nicholas Fish II | 1867 | U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and U.S. Ambassador to Belgium |
| James W. Gerard | 1890 | U.S. Ambassador to Germany and justice of the New York Supreme Court |
| Samuel L. Gouverneur | 1817 | member of the New York State Assembly and Postmaster of New York City |
| James Alexander Hamilton | 1805 | Acting U.S. Secretary of State and son of Alexander Hamilton |
| Abram Hewitt | 1842 | Mayor of New York City, United States House of Representatives, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer |
| Stephen W. Kearny | 1812 | Military Governor of New Mexico and Military Governor of California |
| Harvey R. Kingsley | 1893 | President of the Vermont State Senate, attorney, and judge |
| Wellington Koo | 1909 | Premier and foreign minister of China, Ambassador to the United States, member of the International Court of Justice |
| William Langer | 1910 | Governor of North Dakota and U.S. Senate |
| John L. Lawrence | 1803 | Chargé d'Affaires at Stockholm, member of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate |
| William Beach Lawrence | 1818 | Governor of Rhode Island (acting) |
| Hugh Maxwell | 1808 | Collector of the Port of New York and District Attorney of New York City |
| John McKeon | 1825 | U.S. House of Representatives and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York |
| John Purroy Mitchel | 1899 | Mayor of New York City and Collector of the Port of New York |
| John L. O'Sullivan | 1831 | U.S. Minister to Portugal and magazine editor and columnist who coined the phrase manifest destiny |
| Charles A. Peabody Jr. | 1869 | New York State Assembly |
| Edmund H. Pendleton | 1805 | United States House of Representatives |
| George L. Rives | 1868 | United States Assistant Secretary of State |
| James I. Roosevelt | 1815 | United States House of Representatives and District attorney for Southern New York |
| John Lloyd Stephens | 1822 | Special Ambassador to Central America, explorer, author, and a founder and vice president of the Panama Railroad Company |
| John R. Thurman | 1835 | United States House of Representatives |
| Peter Dumont Vroom | 1808 | Governor of New Jersey, U.S. Congressman, and U.S. Minister to Prussia |
| J. Mayhew Wainwright | 1884 | United States Assistant Secretary of War and United States House of Representatives |
| Samuel Ward | 1831 | Lobbyist and poet |

## Sports

| Name | Class | Notability | References |
| Paul Governali | 1943 | Professional football player and coach | |
| William Milligan Sloane | 1868 | coach of the first U.S. Olympic team, historian, and professor at Princeton University | |

## Miscellaneous

| Name | Class | Notability | References |
| Lucien Carr | 1946 | Member of the original New York City circle of the Beat Generation and convicted murderer | |
| Elbridge Thomas Gerry | 1857 | Social reformer, founder of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children | |