List of Choate Rosemary Hall alumni explained

The following is a list of notable alumni of Choate Rosemary Hall, also known informally simply as Choate. A private, college-preparatory, boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut, it took its present name and began a coeducational system with the merger in 1971 of two single-sex establishments: the Choate School (founded in 1896 in Wallingford) and Rosemary Hall (founded in 1890 in Wallingford, moved later to Greenwich, Connecticut).

A

• Edward Albee '46, Pulitzer-winning playwright^[1]
• Lauren Ambrose (did not graduate), film and TV actress
• William Attwood '37, diplomat and journalist

B

• William Sims Bainbridge '58, sociologist
• Felix Barker (exchange student), British historian, theatre and film critic, president of The Critics' Circle
• David N. Barkhausen, Illinois state legislator and lawyer^[2]
• Florieda Batson '21, hurdler, 1922 Olympian
• Nat Benchley '64, writer, actor, producer
• Joseph Beninati, real estate developer and private equity investor
• Stephen Bogardus '72, Obie-winning stage actor
• Chester Bowles '19, governor of Connecticut, US ambassador to India

C

• Arne H. Carlson '53, governor of Minnesota
• Dov Charney '87, head of American Apparel
• Noah Charney '98, novelist and art historian
• Tanay Chheda 2014, film actor
• Julie Chu 2001, Olympic hockey player
• Kristen Clarke '93, Civil Rights lawyer^[3]
• Glenn Close '65, actress
• Jeff Coby '13, Haitian-American basketball player
• Lewis Augustus Coffin 1908, architect
• Geoffrey Cowan '60, American lawyer, professor, author, and non-profit executive.
• Cason Crane 2011, mountain climber
• Caresse Crosby 1910 (Mary Phelps Jacob, Mrs. Harry Crosby), socialite, poet
• Jamie Lee Curtis '76, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar-winning actress

D

• John Danilovich '68, diplomat, U.S. ambassador to Brazil and Costa Rica, CEO of Millennium Challenge Corporation
• Mathieu Darche '96, NHL ice hockey player
• Chris Denorfia '98, MLB baseball player^[4]
• Bruce Dern (did not graduate), actor
• Tom Dey '83, film director
• Lorenzo di Bonaventura '76, film producer, president of Warner Brothers
• Donna Dickenson '63, philosopher, medical ethicist
• John Dos Passos 1911, novelist^[5]
• Michael Douglas '63, two-time Oscar-winning actor
• John T. Downey '47, spy, prisoner of war, judge
• Paul Draper '54, winemaker
• Andres Duany '67, architect, urban planner, founder of the New Urbanism movement
• Avery Dulles '36, educator, philosopher, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• Matt Dunne '88, Vermont state senator and state representative

E

• James R. Eddy '49, veteran, lawyer, politician, judge
• Walter D. Edmonds '21, historical novelist

F

• Caterina Fake '86, founder of Flickr
• Jonathan Fanton '61, academic and foundation president
• Robert Fitzgerald '29, poet, critic, classicist, translator
• Geoffrey S. Fletcher '88, Oscar-winning screenwriter and film director
• Katherine B. Forrest '82, U.S. federal judge

G

• Oliver M. Gale '27, advertising and public relations pioneer
• Bruce Gelb '45, president of Clairol, U.S. ambassador to Belgium
• Paul Giamatti '85, Emmy- and SAG-winning actor
• Philip Gourevitch '79, journalist, author
• James Griffin '51, philosopher
• Roy Richard Grinker '79, anthropologist

H

• Jin Ha 2008, American actor known for his roles in the TV series Devs, Love Life, and Pachinko in addition to the musical Hamilton
• William O. Harbach '40, Emmy- and Peabody-winner, founding producer of The Tonight Show and The Steve Allen Show
• Amanda Hearst 2002, heiress, journalist, philanthropist
• Buck Henry '48, comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter
• Hong Jung-wook '89, Korean entrepreneur and ex-politician
• Brian Hartzer '85, chairman, BeyondPay

I

• Kim Insalaco '99, Olympic hockey player
• Brett Icahn businessman

J

• Dora Jarkowski '15, American bedroom pop musician, known professionally as Dora Jar^[6]
• Eric M. Javits '48, American ambassador, nephew of Senator Jacob Javits
• Hardy Jones '61, conservationist filmmaker, author

K

• Bob Kasten '60, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
• William Kaufmann '35, Cold War strategist
• John F. Kennedy '35, 35th President of the United States
• Joseph Kennedy Jr. '33, naval pilot
• Sarah Kernochan '65, novelist, screenwriter, songwriter, and Oscar-winning director
• Whitman Knapp '27, U.S. federal judge
• Hilary Knight 2007, Olympic hockey player
• John K. Koelsch '41, Medal of Honor recipient
• Herbert Kohler, Jr. '57, president of the Kohler Company
• Ben Kurland (did not graduate), film and TV actor

L

• James Laughlin '32, poet and founder of New Directions Publishing
• Alan Jay Lerner '36, creator of My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Gigi, winner of three Oscars and three Tonys
• Elad Levy '89, leader, researcher, innovator, for the treatment of stroke in neurosurgery
• Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg (did not graduate), stage and television director, actor, writer
• Alan Lomax '30, pioneering ethnomusicologist, folklorist, oral historian

M

• Robert McCallum Jr. '64, U.S. ambassador to Australia
• Douglas McGrath '76, actor, director, screenwriter
• Ali MacGraw '56, Golden Globe-winning actress
• George J. Mead 1911, aircraft engineer, co-founder of Pratt & Whitney
• Paul Mellon '25, philanthropist, art collector, donor of the Yale Center for British Art and the National Gallery of Art East Wing
• Peter Rodgers Melnick '76, film, theater, and television composer
• Tift Merritt '93, singer-songwriter
• Helen Stevenson Meyner '46, U.S. Congresswoman from New Jersey
• Rebecca Miller '80, actress, screenwriter, director, novelist
• William T. Monroe '68, diplomat, U.S. ambassador to Bahrain
• Emil "Bus" Mosbacher '39, yachtsman, America's Cup winner, U.S. Chief of Protocol
• Robert Mosbacher '44, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
• Robert Mosbacher Jr. '69, Republican Politician and Former President and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation

N

• Abdi Nazemian '94, Iranian-American writer, recipient of the 2017 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction
• Nicholas Negroponte '61, founder of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop per Child
• Philip Nel '88, scholar of children's literature
• Bruce Nelson '58, history professor
• Douglass North '38, Nobel Laureate in Economics
• Victoria Nuland '79, U.S. ambassador to NATO, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

O

• Terry O'Neill '70, feminist, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
• Emily Oster '98, economist and author
• Ifeoma Ozoma 2011, technology policy researcher

P

• Laurie L. Patton '79, 17th president of Middlebury College and president of American Academy of Religion in 2019
• James Peck '32, World War II pacifist, Freedom Rider during the Civil Rights Movement
• Stacey Plaskett '84, U. S. Virgin Islands delegate to the United States House of Representatives
• Josephine Pucci 2009, U.S. Women's National Hockey Team member
• Jim Pyne '90, NFL player

R

• Prince Anthony Stanislas Radziwill '78, Emmy- and Peabody-winning producer of Primetime Live
• Luis Armando Roche '57, Venezuelan film director
• Rick Rosenthal '66, award-winning film and TV director
• Angela Ruggiero '98, Olympic hockey player, U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee
• Anne Ramsey (1929–1988), Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe nominated actress

S

• Nicholas Schaffner '70, author, journalist
• Jamie Schroeder '99, American rower, Olympic gold-medalist, Oxford Blue, winner of The Boat Race
• John Burnham Schwartz '83, novelist
• Martha Schwendener '85, lead singer and songwriter of Bowery Electric
• Maria Semple '82, novelist and screenwriter
• Frederick Charles Shrady '28, sculptor, painter, awarded the Légion d'honneur
• Michael David Shulman (did not graduate), writer, artist, philanthropist
• Bill Simmons '88, sportswriter
• Hedrick Smith '51, New York Times editor, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Emmy-winning PBS producer
• Lee Smith '80, journalist
• Window Snyder '93, digital security innovator
• Gustaf Sobin '53, poet, novelist, and belle-lettrist
• Khari Stephenson 2000, MLS soccer player and member of the Jamaica national football team
• Roger L. Stevens '28, theatrical producer, founding chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kennedy Center
• Adlai Stevenson '18, two-time Democratic presidential candidate, governor of Illinois, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
• James Surowiecki '84, author, New Yorker staff writer

T

• Ivanka Trump 2000, heiress, fashion model, entrepreneur, and presidential advisor

U

• Ian Underwood '59, multi instrumentalist, member of the Mothers of Invention.

V

• Chris Vlasto '84, Emmy-winning producer of Good Morning America and 20/20

W

• Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuk 2003, heir presumptive to the throne of Bhutan
• Frank "Muddy" Waters '43, American college football coach
• Katharine Way '20, Manhattan Project nuclear physicist
• H. Bradford Westerfield '44, political scientist
• George Whipple III '73, lawyer and society reporter for NY1^[7]
• James Whitmore '40, Tony- and Emmy-winning actor
• David Williams '86, NHL ice hockey player
• Geoffrey Wolff '55, novelist and belle-lettrist

Y

• Alexander Morgan Young '88, president of production at 20th Century Fox
• Philip Young '27, Dean of the Columbia Business School and U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands

Z

• Paul Zaloom '70, puppeteer, actor, and educator

Notes and References

1. Graduation years of alumni are taken from the Alumni Directory (online login), supplemented by "Notable Alumni" at www.choate.edu/about/history/notable-alumni, and the Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin
2. 'Illinois Blue Book 1995-1996,' Biographical Sketch of David N. Barkhausen, pg. 95
3. Web site: 22 January 2021 . Two alumnae nominated to key roles in Biden administration. 30 January 2021. Choate News.
4. Web site: Southington native Chris Denorfia making a name for himself with Padres . . June 20, 2011 . February 26, 2014 . Borges, David.
5. Jean-Paul Sartre, "John Dos Passos and 1919," in Literary Essays, transl. Annette Michelson (New York, 1957), p. 90
6. News: Belak . Dagny . April 3, 2015 . Pratt Packard Finalists Seize the Day . September 4, 2024 . The Choate News . 2.
7. Web site: Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin Winter '16 by Choate Rosemary Hall - Issuu . 2022-06-03 . issuu.com . 10 February 2016 . en.