List of people from Aurora, Illinois explained
The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Aurora, Illinois. For a similar list organized alphabetically by last name, see the category page People from Aurora, Illinois.
Arts and culture
Art and architecture
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Owner of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts | Grew up in Aurora | |
| Frank Howell Holden | | | | Architect | Grew up in Aurora | |
|
Film, radio, and television
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Actor and singer | Father was employed in Aurora | |
| | | | Radio news anchor and pastor | Born in Aurora | [1] |
| | | | Adult model and actress | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Longtime Chicago news anchorman | Raised in Aurora | [2] |
| | | | Emmy-nominated actress | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Actress, co-star of ABC's Castle | Attended West Aurora High School | |
| | | | Radio personality and program director | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Actor | Lives in Aurora | |
| | | | Screenwriter and director | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV meteorologist | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Actor | Born in Aurora | |
|
Music
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Singer-songwriter | | |
| (a.k.a. The Ragtime King) | | | | Entertainer, singer and composer | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Organist | Lived in Aurora and is buried there | |
| | | | Banjoist, singer, Yonder Mountain String Band | | |
| | | | Musician | Raised in Aurora and taught music there | |
| | | | Violinist | Began violin and piano lessons in Aurora in 1874 | [3] |
| | | | R&B singer | Attended East Aurora High School | |
| | | | Soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist; member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles | | |
|
Writing and journalism
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Adventure novelist and marine archaeologist | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Author and poet | Raised in Aurora | |
| | | | Short story writer | Raised in Aurora | |
| | | | Prolific novelist | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Wrote the Alice and Jerry basal reader series | Attended East Aurora High School | |
| | | | Pulitzer Prize-winning historian; college football coach | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Novelist | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | New York journalist, business woman, school founder | Born in Aurora | [4] |
| | | | Pioneering gay journalist and author | | |
| Valerie Taylor | | | | Author of lesbian pulp fiction novels and poetry | Born in Aurora | |
|
Business and administrative
Law and crime
Military
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Combat medic in the Vietnam War and recipient of the Medal of Honor | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Member of the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II and recipient of the Medal of Honor | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | U.S. Marine and recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam | Born in Aurora | |
|
Politics
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | State legislator Wisconsin; head football coach at University of Iowa | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | U.S. congressman and founder of Copley |
| Michael J. Davis | Born Jul 21, 1947 | Born in Cincinmati, OH, raised in Aurora, chief Justice of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota | |
| | Jun 24, 2022 | Illinois state congresswoman | | |
| | | | U.S. senator from and 11th governor of Nebraska | Born in Aurora | |
| Matt Hanson | | May 17, 1973 | | | Lived in Aurora | |
| | | | Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives | Born in Aurora | |
| | | Nov 2, 2019 | Retired law professor and author | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Illinois state senator | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Illinois state congressman | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Illinois state congressman | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | U.S. congressman | Attended schools in Aurora | |
| | | | U.S. congressman from Florida | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Former Chief of Staff to U.S. congressman Dennis Hastert | Attended Aurora University | |
| | | | Illinois state congressman | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | U.S. congresswoman | Lived and died in Aurora | |
| | | | U.S. congressman | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Mayor of Aurora | | |
|
Religion
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America's Romanian Episcopate | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Bishop emeritus of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George's in Canton | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Romanian Greek-Catholic priest, political prisoner, and author | Lived and died in Aurora | |
|
Science
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Astrophysicist and author | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Inventor of the Hall Braille Writer and other Braille printing devices | Lived and died in Aurora | |
| | | | Environmental activist | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Electrical engineer, the first female president of the IEEE | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Ecologist and college professor | Born in Aurora | |
|
Sports
Baseball
Basketball
| Name | Image | Birth | Death | Known for | Association | Reference |
|---|
| | | | Small forward for several NBA teams | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Point guard UConn 2014 National Championship team | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Shooting guard for the Minneapolis Lakers | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | NBA player of early 1950s | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | Basketball head coach, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida | Born in Aurora | |
| | | | College basketball assistant and head coach | Born in Aurora | |
|
Football
Sports-related professionals
Track and field
Notes and References
- https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/authors/cisco-cotto title= WBBM Newsradio Morning Host Cisco Cotto
- Web site: John Drury's Path To Fame - Chicago Tribune . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131002141637/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-01-19/features/9201060067_1_chicago-area-train-wbbm . 2013-10-02 . articles.chicagotribune.com.
- http://www.maudpowell.org/home/MaudPowell/LifeCareerTimeline/tabid/78/Default.aspx Life & Career Timeline of Maud Powell
- Book: Willard . Frances Elizabeth . American Women: Fifteen Hundred Biographies with Over 1,400 Portraits: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of the Lives and Achievements of American Women During the Nineteenth Century . Livermore . Mary Ashton Rice . Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick . 1897 . 645–.
