Notable Alumni of Kenyon College

Rutherford B. Hayes 1822–1893

19th President of the United States

Also attended: Harvard University

Spouse: Lucy Webb Hayes (Ohio Wesleyan University)

Child: Webb Hayes (Cornell University)

Olof Palme 1927–1986

Former Prime Minister of Sweden

William Rehnquist 1924–2005

16th Chief Justice of the United States

Also attended: Arizona State University-Tempe, Harvard University, Denison University

John Sherman 1823–1900

Ohio senator and cabinet secretary

Sibling: William Tecumseh Sherman (The United States Military Academy at West Point)

Sibling: Charles Taylor Sherman (Ohio University-Main Campus)

Edwin M. Stanton 1814–1869

27th U.S. Secretary of War under Lincoln

John W. Snow 1939–

73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury

Also attended: George Washington University, University of Toledo, University of Virginia-Main Campus

Unity Dow 1959–

Botswana lawyer and human rights activist

Attended until 2001

Leopoldo López 1971–

Venezuelan opposition leader

Also attended: Harvard University

Father: Leopoldo López Gil (Columbia University in the City of New York)

Bridget Brink 1969–

Former US ambassador to Ukraine

David Davis 1815–1886

Supreme Court justice and US senator from Illinois

Also attended: Yale University

William Goebel 1856–1900

34th Governor of Kentucky, died by assassination

Also attended: University of Cincinnati-Main Campus

Lizzie Pannill Fletcher 1975–

US Representative for Texas, Democrat

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1997

Also attended: College of William and Mary

Sibling: Katherine Center (Vassar College, University of Houston)

Stanley Matthews 1824–1889

US Supreme Court associate justice from 1881 to 1889

Daniel Sheldon Norton 1829–1870

Lawyer and US senator from Minnesota

Henry Winter Davis 1817–1865

Maryland congressman and Radical Republican

Also attended: University of Virginia-Main Campus

David Turpie 1828–1909

US senator from Indiana

Stephen M. Young 1889–1984

US senator from Ohio from 1959 to 1971

Also attended: Case Western Reserve University

James Gamble 1803–1891

Co-founder of Procter & Gamble

David Meerman Scott 1961–

Online marketing strategist and author

Bill Veeck 1914–1986

Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter

Carl Djerassi 1923–2015

Chemist known as father of the birth control pill

Also attended: Wayne State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Spouse: Diane Middlebrook (Yale University, University of Washington-Seattle Campus)

Henry J. Abraham 1921–2020

Judiciary and constitutional law scholar

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, University of Pennsylvania

Harvey Lodish 1941–

Cell biologist and MIT professor

Also attended: The Rockefeller University

Nia Imara 1950–

Astrophysicist and artist

Also attended: University of California-Berkeley

Paul Newman 1925–2008

Actor, filmmaker, racecar driver and philanthropist

Also attended: Yale University, Ohio University-Main Campus

Spouse: Joanne Woodward (Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater)

Child: Nell Newman (College of the Atlantic)

Jonathan Winters 1925–2013

Comedian, actor and artist

John Green 1977–

Bestselling author and YouTuber

Spouse: Sarah Urist Green (Northwestern University, Columbia University in the City of New York)

Sibling: Hank Green (Eckerd College, The University of Montana)

Allison Janney 1959–

Actress and Academy Award winner

Also attended: Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater

Josh Radnor 1974–

Actor known for How I Met Your Mother

Also attended: New York University

E. L. Doctorow 1931–2015

Novelist, author of Ragtime

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Bill Watterson 1958–

Cartoonist, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

Robert Lowell 1917–1977

Poet, playwright and translator

Also attended: Harvard University

Spouse: Jean Stafford (University of Colorado Boulder)

Spouse: Elizabeth Hardwick (University of Kentucky, Barnard College)

Ransom Riggs 1979–

Author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Also attended: University of Southern California

Spouse: Tahereh Mafi (Soka University of America)

Randall Jarrell 1914–1965

Poet, critic and 11th Consultant in Poetry

Also attended: Vanderbilt University

William H. Gass 1924–2017

Novelist, critic and philosophy professor

Also attended: Cornell University, Ohio Wesleyan University

Caleb Carr 1955–2024

Military historian and novelist

Also attended: New York University

Father: Lucien Carr (Columbia University in the City of New York)

Adam Davidson 1964–

Actor and television director

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Father: Gordon Davidson (Cornell University, Case Western Reserve University)

Chris Eigeman 1965–

Actor known for Whit Stillman films

Vikram Chandra 1961–

Indian-American novelist and writer

Also attended: Pomona College, Columbia University in the City of New York

Karl Edward Wagner 1945–1994

Horror and fantasy writer, editor and publisher

Jay Cocks 1944–

Film critic and screenwriter

Spouse: Verna Bloom (Boston University)

Anthony Hecht 1923–2004

Poet

Also attended: University of Iowa, Bard College, Columbia University in the City of New York

Nick Bakay 1959–

Actor, comedian and voice of Salem Saberhagen

Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor 1917–1994

Novelist, short story writer and playwright

Also attended: Rhodes College, University of Virginia-Main Campus

Spouse: Eleanor Ross Taylor (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)

John Sharian 2000–

English actor in The Machinist

Laura Hillenbrand 1967–

Author of Seabiscuit and Unbroken

James Wright 1927–1980

Lyric poet and translator

Also attended: Yale University, University of Washington-Seattle Campus

Junzo Shono 1921–2009

Japanese novelist, Akutagawa Prize winner

Emmett Williams 1925–2007

Poet and visual artist

Coles Phillips 1880–1927

Illustrator known for magazine covers and advertisements

Henry Holcomb Bennett 1863–1924

Writer, journalist and poet

Frank Dicopoulos 1957–

American actor

Nilita Vientós Gastón 1903–1989

Puerto Rican educator, writer and journalist

Jim Borgman 1954–

Political cartoonist and Zits co-creator

Allison Joseph 1967–

Poet, editor and professor

Jenna Blum 1970–

Novelist, author of Those Who Save Us

Also attended: Boston University

Graham Gund 1940–2025

Architect, founder of Gund Partnership

Bachelor of Arts

Also attended: Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design

Sibling: Gordon Gund (Harvard University)

Don McNeill 1918–1996

American tennis player

John Celivergos Zachos 1820–1898

Greek-American physician, author, educator and abolitionist

Bachelor's degree, Master's degree · Class of 1842

Also attended: University of Cincinnati-Main Campus

Sylvester Horton Rosecrans 1827–1878

Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Columbus

Also attended: Fordham University