List of Taft School alumni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of notable alumni of Taft School. The Taft School is a private, coeducational prep school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. The school was founded by Horace Dutton Taft, the brother of President William Howard Taft, in 1890.
Academics
- T. H. Breen '60, Guggenheim fellow, history professor
- Stevan Dedijer '30, founder of the Research Policy Institute, pioneer of business intelligence
- Alfred G. Gilman '58, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine[1]
- Mason Gross '29, president of Rutgers University
- Thomas Kuhn '40, philosopher of science, author
- Samuel T. Orton 1897, pioneer in the study of dyslexia
- Rollin G. Osterweis '26, professor of history at Yale University
Arts and entertainment
- Trey Anastasio '83, Phish lead guitarist
- Jeff Baxter '67, musician (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers)
- Henry Beard '63, co-founder of National Lampoon, co-author of Bored of the Rings
- Peter Berg '80, actor/director of Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor
- Jason Blum '87, producer of Get Out and Paranormal Activity, founder of Blumhouse Productions
- Mia Borders, '05, singer-songwriter
- Mary Chapin Carpenter '76, five-time Grammy Award winner[2]
- Spencer Treat Clark '05, actor in Gladiator, Mystic River, Unbreakable, and The Last House on the Left
- Barnaby Conrad '40, author, artist, bullfighter
- Barnaby Conrad III '71, author and artist
- Dominique Dunne, actress[3]
- Adam Duritz '82, lead singer of Counting Crows
- James Franciscus '53, actor in The Naked City, Longstreet
- Grant Goodeve, actor in Eight is Enough
- Geoffrey T. Hellman '24, longtime New Yorker columnist
- Deane G. Keller '17, painter and educator[4]
- Alan Klingenstein '72, film producer
- Ralph Lee '53, Guggenheim fellow and Obie Award winner
- Lorenzo Mariani '73, international opera director
- Steve Sandvoss '98, actor
- Tom Santopietro '72, author and Broadway theater manager
- Fred Small '70, singer-songwriter
- Dudley Taft '84, member of Sweet Water guitars, vocals
- Karen L. Thorson '78, producer of The Wire, The Unusuals
Business
- Henry Becton, chairman of Becton Dickinson and Company
- Thomas Ludlow Chrystie II '51, investment banker, first CFO of Merrill and inventor of the Cash Management Account
- Peter S. Kaufman '71, investment banker, president of the Gordian Group LLC
- Joseph Irwin Miller '27, industrialist, Cummins Engine Company
- John M. Schiff '21, investment banker, philanthropist, honorary chairman of Lehman Brothers[5]
- John G. Taft '68, financier and writer
- James B. Taylor '40, business jet marketing pioneer
- George Weyerhaeuser '44, chairman and CEO, Weyerhaeuser Company[6]
Government officials
- William D. Brewer, U.S. ambassador
- Nathaniel Neiman Craley, Jr. '46, U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania[7]
- Richard Funkhouser, U.S. ambassador to Gabon
- Robert C. Hill '38, U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Spain and Argentina
- William S. Mailliard '35, U.S. congressman, California[8]
- Manuel Rocha '69, U.S. ambassador to Bolivia 2000–02
- Earl E. T. Smith '22, U.S. ambassador to Cuba (1958–59)
- Michael P. W. Stone '42, U.S. secretary of the Army
- Bob Taft '59, governor of Ohio
- Robert Taft, Jr. '35, Republican congressman 1963–65, 1967–71, senator 1971–76
- Robert A. Taft 1906, U.S. senator from Ohio 1939–53, majority leader
- William Howard Taft III '33, U.S. ambassador to Ireland
- Robert F. Wagner Jr. '29, mayor of New York
- John S. Wold '34, U.S. congressman, Wyoming[9]
Legal and judiciary
- Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. '61, associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court[10]
- Robert W. Sweet '40, federal judge who heard New York Times v. Gonzales concerning the Judith Miller controversy[9]
- Wesley S. Williams Jr. '59, first African-American to serve both as legal counsel to the United States Senate and president of the Harvard Law School Association
- Ralph K. Winter Jr. '53, federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, nominated to the court in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan
Sports
- Skyler Bell '21, professional football player
- Amanda Boulier '11, professional hockey player of Professional Women's Hockey League the Montreal Victoire
- Darren Bragg '87, professional baseball player
- James Driscoll '96, professional golfer[11]
- Patrick Kerney '95, professional football player
- Allison Mleczko '93, gold medalist in first women's Olympic ice hockey game at Nagano; silver medalist in 2002[12]
- Max Pacioretty '07, professional hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes
- Barbara Potter '79, Hall of Fame professional tennis player
- James Stillman Rockefeller 1920, Olympic gold medalist, 8-man rowing (Paris, France)
- Ryan Shannon '01, professional hockey player
- Tammy Lee Shewchuk '96, Olympic gold medalist in women's ice hockey, Salt Lake City
- Jaime Sifers '02, professional ice hockey player
- Katey Stone '84, head coach of 2014 Olympic women's ice hockey team, coach of Harvard Crimson women's ice hockey team
- John Welchli '46, Olympic silver medalist, Melbourne, 1956
Writing, journalism, and publishing
- Laurence Bergreen '67, historian and biographer
- Nelson Denis '72, journalist, screenwriter, former New York State assemblyman
- Steven J. Erlanger ’70, London bureau chief (formerly Paris and Jerusalem bureau chief) for The New York Times
- Philip K. Howard '66, founder of Common Good, author of The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America[13]
- Thomas Kuhn '40, author of Structure of Scientific Revolutions, coined the phrase "paradigm shift"
- John Merrow ’59, Peabody Award-winning journalist and producer
- Sumner Chilton Powell '42, Pulitzer Prize winner in history for Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town[14]
- Josh Quittner '75, author, editor of Business 2.0
- David Kenyon Webster '40, soldier, journalist, and author