List of people from Trenton, New Jersey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Trenton, New Jersey, include:
- Charles Conrad Abbott (1843–1919), archaeologist and naturalist[1]
- Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha (born 1981), physician who is the Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health at the Tufts University School of Medicine[2]
- Flournoy Coles (c. 1915–1982), official of the United States Department of State who was the first Black faculty member to gain tenure at Vanderbilt University[3]
- Timothy Abbott Conrad (1803–1877), geologist and malacologist[4]
- Mary Joyce Doyle (1923–2016), nun and librarian who founded the library consortium that revolutionized the borrowing of books in Bergen County, New Jersey, through the creation of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System[5]
- Robert B. Duffield (1917–2000), radiochemist who headed the Argonne National Laboratory[6]
- N. Gregory Mankiw (born 1958), macroeconomist[7]
- George T. Reynolds (1917–2005), physicist who was best known for his accomplishments in particle physics, biophysics and environmental science[8]
- W. Kip Viscusi (born 1949), economist who studies the economics of risk and uncertainty, risk and environmental regulation, law and economics and behavioral economics[9]
- Joshua M. Zeitz (born 1974), historian[10]
Actors and actresses
- Jean Acker (1893–1978), film actress who was the estranged wife of silent film star Rudolph Valentino[11]
- Betty Bronson (1907–1971), actress[12]
- Zach Cherry (born 1987), actor and comedian, who has appeared on the Apple TV+ series Severance[13]
- Roxanne Hart (born 1952), actress who appeared in the film Highlander and on television in Chicago Hope[14]
- Alejandro Hernandez, actor who has appeared in New Amsterdam and The Horror of Dolores Roach[15]
- Richard Kind (born 1956), actor and voice actor, known for his roles in the sitcoms Mad About You and Spin City[16]
- Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962), television comedian and film actor[17]
- Judith Light (born 1949), actress[18]
- Amy Locane (born 1971), actress[19]
- Amy Robinson (born 1948), actress and film producer[20]
- Sommore Rambough (born 1967), comedian[21]
- Ty Treadway (born 1967), host of Merv Griffin's Crosswords[22]
- Danielle Spencer (1965-2025), actress best known for her role as Dee in What's Happening!![23]
- Sammy Williams (1948–2018), actor best known for his role as Paul in the musical A Chorus Line, for which he won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical[24]
- Zach Woods (born 1983), actor and comedian[25]
Artists
- Edward Marshall Boehm (1913–1969), sculptor and his wife Helen Boehm (1920–2010), who promoted his works[26]
- Ruth Donnelly (1896–1982), stage and film actress[27]
- Peter Hujar (1934–1987), photographer best known for his black-and-white portraits[28]
- Mel Leipzig (1935–2025), visual artist and arts educator, known for his realist portraits in acrylic paint[29][30]
Authors, writers, journalists and poets
- Edward Bloor (born 1950), novelist[31]
- Edward Y. Breese (1912–1979), popular fiction writer[32]
- John Brooks (1920–1993), writer and longtime contributor to The New Yorker magazine[33]
- Russell Gordon Carter (1892–1957), writer[34]
- Janis Hirsch (born c. 1950), comedy writer best known for producing and writing for television series[35]
- Pam Houston (born 1962), author of short stories, novels and essays who is best known for her first book, Cowboys Are My Weakness[36]
- Mary Dagworthy James (1810–1883), hymn writer[37]
- William Mastrosimone (born 1947), playwright[38]
- Mark Osborne (born 1970) film director, writer, producer and animator, whose work includes Kung Fu Panda[39]
- Stacey Patton, journalist, writer, speaker, commentator and college professor[40]
- Ion Hanford Perdicaris (1840–1925) playwright and author wrote about art and Moroccan culture[41]
- Bob Ryan (born 1946), sportswriter, regular contributor on the ESPN show Around the Horn[42]
- Ntozake Shange (1948–2018), playwright and poet best known for the Obie Award-winning play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf[43]
- Geraldine Sharpe (1929–1968), photographer best known for her photographs of landscapes and of Ghana[44]
- Nancy Wood (1936–2013), author, poet and photographer[45]
Colonial figures
- James Francis Armstrong (1750–1816), chaplain in the American Revolutionary War and a Presbyterian minister for 30 years in Trenton[46]
- Samuel John Atlee (1739–1786), soldier and statesman who was a delegate to the Continental Congress for Pennsylvania[47]
- John Cadwalader (1742–1786), commander of Pennsylvania troops during the American Revolutionary War[48]
- Lambert Cadwalader (1742–1823), merchant who fought in the Revolutionary War, then represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress and the United States House of Representatives[49]
- Thomas Cadwalader (1707–1779), physician and namesake of Cadwalader Park[50]
- Philemon Dickinson (1739–1809), lawyer and politician who served as a brigadier general of the New Jersey militia, as a Continental Congressman from Delaware and a United States Senator from New Jersey[51]
- Mary Hays (1744–1832), woman who fought during the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Monmouth, and is generally believed to have been the inspiration of the story of Molly Pitcher[52]
Government, education and politics
- Samuel Alito (born 1950), Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court[53]
- Henry W. Antheil Jr. (1912–1940), American diplomat killed in the shootdown of the Kaleva airplane by Soviet aircraft in the wake of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States[54][55]
- John T. Bird (1829–1911), represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district (1869–1873)[56]
- James Bishop (1816–1895), represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1855–1857)[57]
- Peggy Blackford (born 1942), American Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau from 1995 until relations were suspended in June 1998[58]
- Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. (born 1944), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from the 14th Legislative District from 1982 to 1988[59]
- J. Hart Brewer (1844–1900), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district (1881–1885)[60]
- Frank O. Briggs (1851–1913), politician who was the mayor of Trenton from 1899 to 1902, and United States Senator from New Jersey from 1907 to 1913[61]
- Michele Brown, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority[62]
- James Buchanan (1839–1900), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district from 1885 to 1893[63]
- Newton A.K. Bugbee (1876–1965), businessman and politician who served as New Jersey State Comptroller and chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee, and was the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in 1919[64]
- Robert J. Burkhardt (1916–1999), politician who served as Secretary of State of New Jersey and chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee[65]
- Aneesh Chopra (born 1972), served as the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States[66]
- Herb Conaway (born 1963), U.S. representative for New Jersey[67]
- James L. Conger (1805–1876), politician who represented Michigan's 3rd congressional district[68]
- Martin Connor (born 1945), former member of the New York State Senate[69]
- Willard S. Curtin (1905–1996), U.S. representative for Pennsylvania[70]
- William Lewis Dayton Jr. (1839–1897), United States Ambassador to the Netherlands[71]
- Wayne DeAngelo (born 1965), politician who has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2008, where he represents the 14th Legislative District[72]
- David Dinkins (1927–2020), first black mayor of New York City[73]
- George Washington Doane (1799–1859), churchman, educator (founder of Doane Academy) and bishop in the Episcopal Church for the Diocese of New Jersey[74]
- Frederick W. Donnelly (1866–1935), politician who served as Mayor of Trenton from 1911 until 1932[75]
- Richard Grant Augustus Donnelly (1841–1905), politician who served as Mayor of Trenton from 1884 to 1886[75]
- Thomas A. Ferguson (born 1950), Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from 1998 to 2005[76]
- Richard Funkhouser (1917–2008), geologist and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Gabon[77]
- Harry Heher (1889–1972), Justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court[78]
- Charles R. Howell (1904–1973), represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1955)[79]
- Elijah C. Hutchinson (1855–1932), represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district (1915–1923)[80]
- Marie Hilson Katzenbach (1882–1970), educator who was the first woman to serve as president of the New Jersey State Board of Education[81]
- Nicholas Katzenbach (1922–2012), U.S. Attorney General during the Johnson Administration[82]
- Dick LaRossa (born 1946), politician and former television presenter who served two terms in the New Jersey Senate, where he represented the 15th Legislative District[83]
- A. Leo Levin (1919–2015), law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School[84]
- Sol Linowitz (1913–2005), diplomat, lawyer, and businessman[85]
- Moira K. Lyons, politician who served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1981 to 2004[86]
- Francis J. McManimon (1926–2020), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1972 to 1982 and in the New Jersey Senate from 1982 to 1992[87]
- Joseph P. Merlino (1922–1998), politician who served as President of the New Jersey Senate from 1978 to 1981[88]
- A. Dayton Oliphant (1887–1963), associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1945 to 1946, and again from 1948 to 1957[89]
- Anne M. Patterson (born 1959), associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court[90]
- Gregory Anthony Perdicaris (1810–1883), first U.S. Consul to Greece[91]
- D. Lane Powers (1896–1968), represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1933–1945)[92]
- Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, politician who represents the 15th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly[93]
- Daniel Bailey Ryall (1798–1864), U.S. Representative from New Jersey (1839–1841)[94]
- Antonin Scalia (1936–2016), Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court[95]
- Sido L. Ridolfi (1913–2004), politician who served in the New Jersey Senate from 1954 to 1972[96]
- Charles Skelton (1806–1879), represented New Jersey's 2nd congressional district (1851–1855)[97]
- Robin L. Titus (born 1954), physician and politician who serves as a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly[98]
- Wesley Updike (1900–1974), educator and soldier, who was the father of author John Updike[99]
- Bennet Van Syckel (1830–1921), associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1869 to 1904[100]
- Albert C. Wagner (1911–1987), director of the New Jersey Department of Corrections from 1966 to 1973[101]
- Allan B. Walsh (1874–1953), represented the 4th congressional district (1913–1915)[102]
- Karl Weidel (1923–1997), who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1970 to 1986[103]
- Ira W. Wood (1856–1931), represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district (1904–1913)[104]
Military
- Stephen Hart Barlow (1895–1962), served as Quartermaster General of New Jersey from 1934 to 1942[105]
- Clifford Bluemel (1885–1973), United States Army brigadier general who commanded the 31st Division during the Battle of Bataan before being captured by Japanese forces and held as a prisoner of war[106]
- Thomas McCall Cadwalader (1795–1873), United States Army Major general[107]
- Frank William Crilley (1883–1947), United States Navy diver and a recipient of the Medal of Honor[108]
- Samuel Gibbs French (1818–1910), Major General in the Confederate States Army[109]
- William J. Johnston (1918–1990), Medal of Honor recipient for gallantry during World War II[110]
- Needham Roberts (1901–1949), soldier in the Harlem Hellfighters and recipient of the Purple Heart and the Croix de Guerre for his valor during World War I[111]
- Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (1934–2012), Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command in the Gulf War[112]
- Peter D. Vroom (1842–1926), Inspector General of the U.S. Army[113][114]
Music
- George Antheil (1900–1959), pianist, composer, writer and inventor[115]
- Hodgy Beats (born 1990 as Gerard Damien Long), member of the Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future[116]
- Carman (1956–2021), contemporary Christian music singer[117]
- Shawn Corey Carter (born 1969, a.k.a. Jay-Z), rap mogul, CEO[118]
- Charles Chapman (1950–2011), jazz guitarist[119]
- Richie Cole (1948–2020), jazz alto saxophonist[120][121]
- Johnny Coles (1926–1997), jazz trumpeter[122]
- Richard Crooks (1900–1972), tenor at the New York Metropolitan Opera[123]
- Sarah Dash (1944–2021), singer, formerly of glam rock group, Labelle[124]
- Nona Hendryx (born 1944), singer formerly of glam rock group Labelle[125]
- Wise Intelligent, and other members of the hip hop group Poor Righteous Teachers[126][127]
- Maury Muehleisen (1949–1973), guitarist and songwriting partner for Jim Croce[128]
- Dean Ween (born 1970), Lead Guitarist, and one half of the band Ween
- Marion Zarzeczna, concert pianist[129]