List of people from Utica, New York
This article lists notable people from Utica, New York.
Academics and scientists
[edit]- Amariah Brigham – psychiatrist and founding member of American Psychiatric Association
- Robert E. Brown – ethnomusicologist, coined the term "world music"
- Elizabeth E. Farrell – educator
- Asa Gray – botanist
- Mark Hopkins – president of Williams College[1]
- Marilyn E. Jacox – physical chemist
- Paul Krugman – economist who is a professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York; columnist for the New York Times
- Cherilla Storrs Lowrey – educator and clubwoman; founder and chairwoman of The Outdoor Circle
- Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters – astronomer
- Electa Quinney – Mohican teacher
- Charles Henry Smyth Jr. – geologist
- Michael Sweet – computer scientist known for being the original developer of CUPS
Actors and entertainers
[edit]- Lester Allen – actor, dancer, acrobat
- Kim Bass – director, screenwriter, and producer
- Susan Bennett – voice actress, singer; voice of Apple's "Siri"
- Yale Boss – actor
- Steven Brill – actor, film producer, director, and screenwriter[2]
- Frank Cappelli – creator of Cappelli & Company
- Dick Clark – television and radio personality and television producer[3]
- Flick Colby – choreographer
- Leonard Crofoot – actor, singer, dancer, writer and choreographer
- John Curran – director and screenwriter
- Annette Funicello – actress and singer[4][5]
- David Mancuso – disc jockey, creator of "The Loft"
- Jerry Mandy – actor
- Joseph Franz – director and actor
- Ron O'Neal – actor, director, and screenwriter
- Tiffany Pollard – television personality known for Flavor of Love and I Love New York
- Anna Townsend – actress and frequent Harold Lloyd collaborator
Artists and architects
[edit]- Mark Bodé – cartoonist; son of Vaughn Bodē
- Vaughn Bodē – cartoonist and illustrator;[6] graduated from Proctor High School[7]
- Neave Brown – architect and artist
- Calvert Coggeshall – abstract painter and designer.
- Arthur Bowen Davies – avant-garde artist and advocate of modern art
Athletes and athletics personnel
[edit]- Jack Britton – boxer, World Welterweight Champion
- George Burns – played baseball for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Phillies
- Tim Capstraw – color commentator
- Dave Cash – played baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos, and San Diego Padres
- Robert Esche – played hockey for the Phoenix Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers; president of the Utica Comets
- Chris Garrett – played football for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders
- Jim Jackson – sportscaster who is the play-by-play commentator for the Philadelphia Flyers
- Mark Lemke – played baseball for the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox; sportscaster for the Atlanta Braves
- Art Mills – played baseball for the Boston Braves; coach for the 1945 World Series champion Detroit Tigers
- Mark Mowers – played hockey for the Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, and Anaheim Ducks; pro scout for the Minnesota Wild
- Joe Nolan – played hockey for the Clinton Comets
- Nick Palmieri – played hockey for the New Jersey Devils
- Len Rossi – wrestler who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance; member of the NWA Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Ralph Sheheen – sports announcer
- Andy Van Slyke – played baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and Philadelphia Phillies
- Will Smith – played football for the New Orleans Saints
- Johnny Sullivan – wrestler
- Lou Lazzaro – modified racing driver; member of the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame
- George Burrell Woodin – wrestler, better known by his stage name "Mr. Wrestling"
Business figures
[edit]- Richard H. Balch – Vice President of the Horrocks-Ibbotson Company, co-founder of Utica University
- Harry H. Bassett – automotive executive who served as president of Buick
- Joseph H. Boardman – CEO of Amtrak, and administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration
- William McLaren Bristol – co-founder of Bristol Meyers Squibb
- John Butterfield – founder of American Express
- John Ripley Myers – co-founder of Bristol Meyers Squibb
- Andy Rubin – computer programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist; founder of Android Inc.
- Kenny Friedkin – aviator and businessman; founder of Pacific Southwest Airlines
- William Williams – printer and publisher
- Steve Wynn – real estate developer and art collector best known for his involvement in the casino and hotel industry[8]
Lawyers and jurists
[edit]- Francis Marion Burdick – legal scholar and a mayor of Utica
- John D. Caton – chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court
- Alexander S. Johnson – judge
- Louis M. Martin – justice of the New York Supreme Court
- Harry S. Patten – lawyer and politician
Military figures
[edit]- Daniel Butterfield – Union general and Assistant Treasurer of the United States
- Ulysses S. Grant III – United States Army officer, grandson of President Ulysses S. Grant
- Jedediah Sanger – Continental Army first lieutenant, politician, judge, and founder of New Hartford
- Richard Henry Savage – military officer and author, potential inspiration for the pulp novel character Doc Savage
- Charles Stuart – Bermudian-born military officer, abolitionist, and principal of Utica Academy
- Benjamin Walker – Continental Army officer, businessman, and politician[9]
Musicians
[edit]- Carlos Alexander – operatic singer
- Joe Bonamassa – blues rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter[10]
- Bruce Burger – singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer
- Fran Cosmo – musician best known as a former lead singer of the rock bands Boston and Orion the Hunter[11]
- Tommy DeCarlo – singer who is the current lead vocalist for the rock band Boston[12]
- Earthstar – electronic music group
- Debbie Friedman – singer-songwriter of religious Jewish music[13]
- Lincoln Holroyd – performer, band leader, and music educator
- David Eric Lowen – half of the songwriting team Lowen & Navarro
- Joseph Michael – lead singer of Sanctuary, former member of White Wizzard, Midnight Reign and Peppermint Creeps
- moe. – jam rock band[14]
- Barbara Owen – organist
- B. A. Rolfe – bandleader, recording artist, radio personality, and film producer
- Sofronio Vasquez – Filipino singer; winner of season 26 of The Voice
- Ronnie Zito – jazz musician; drummer for Bobby Darin, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt
- Torrie Zito – pianist, composer, and conductor; string arranger for John Lennon
Religion and philosophy
[edit]- Marianne Cope – religious sister and Roman Catholic saint
- George Washington Gale – minister, founder of the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry
- John Grimes – bishop
- Asa Jennings – pastor who organized the evacuation of 350,000 Christian refugees from the shores of Smyrna
- Alexander Bryan Johnson – philosopher and semanticist; married to the granddaughter of president John Adams
- Samuel Kirkland – missionary
- Orange Scott – minister and abolitionist[15]
- Benjamin Woodbridge – minister, educator, scholar and author
Social reformers
[edit]- Clara Barton – founder of the American Red Cross[16]
- Beriah Green - social reformer, abolitionist, temperance advocate, minister, and head of the Oneida Institute
- Jane Louisa Hardy – activist and philanthropist
- Gerrit Smith – social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist
- Theodore Dwight Weld – early architect of the abolitionist movement
Politicians
[edit]- Dean Alfange – politician, Greek-American activist
- Mike Arcuri – U.S. Congressman
- Sherwood Boehlert – U.S. Congressman
- Sidney Breese – U.S. Congressman, Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court
- Anthony Brindisi – U.S. Congressman
- John T. Clark – civil engineer and politician
- Grover Cleveland – 22nd and 24th president of the United States; lived within the Utica area for a time as a boy in the 1850s[17]
- Rose Cleveland – wife of president Grover Cleveland, first lady of the United States
- Alexander L. Collins – Whig Party leader, U.S. Congressman, Brigadier General with the New York militia during the War of 1812
- Roscoe Conkling – U.S. Congressman[18][19]
- Simon Newton Dexter – politician and merchant
- Fred J. Douglas – U.S. Congressman
- Rufus Elefante – Democratic political boss
- Thomas R. Gold – U.S. Congressman
- George Hastings – U.S. Congressman
- Francis Kernan – U.S. Congressman
- William A. Moseley – U.S. Congressman
- Charles Edward Pearce – U.S. Congressman
- Elihu Root – U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of War, and Nobel Peace Prize winner
- Bernie Sanders – politician and activist; lived in the Utica area while teaching at Hamilton College in Clinton[20]
- Horatio Seymour – politician who served as New York State Governor[21][22]
- Carrie Babcock Sherman – wife of Vice President James S. Sherman, second lady of the United States
- James Schoolcraft Sherman – lawyer and politician who served as 27th vice president of the United States[23][24]
- Fred Sisson – U.S. Congressman
- John T. Spriggs – U.S. Congressman
- De Wayne Stebbins – Wisconsin State Senator
- Henry R. Storrs – U.S. Congressman
- Charles A. Talcott – U.S. Congressman
- Chandler J. Wells – prominent builder who served as mayor of Buffalo, New York
- Philo White – Wisconsin state senator
Writers and journalists
[edit]- Natalie Babbitt – children's author
- Daniel Barwick – writer, fundraiser, journalist, podcaster, higher education administrator, and teacher
- Daryl Cobb – author of children's books[25]
- Jane Elizabeth Dexter Conklin – poet and religious writer
- Pádraig Phiarais Cúndún – Irish-American homesteader and composer of American poetry in the Irish language
- Mark Danner – writer, journalist, and educator
- David Skaats Foster – novelist
- Harold Frederic – journalist and novelist
- Joanne Grant – journalist, activist
- Michael Kernan – writer and Washington Post journalist
- John D. MacDonald – writer and best-selling crime novelist
- Grace May North – newspaper journalist and author of novels for children and adolescents
- Dan Senor – columnist, writer, and political advisor to Mitt Romney
- Hildegarde Swift – children's author
- John Zogby – political pollster, author, and public speaker; founder of the Zogby poll and the Zogby International poll
Other
[edit]- Bianca Devins – teenager who was murdered by a male acquaintance
- Edward P. Felt – passenger on United Flight 93
- Nyah Mway – teenager who was killed by an officer of the Utica Police Department
Fictional characters
[edit]- Gary Chalmers – superintendent of Springfield School District on the animated sitcom The Simpsons
- Karen Filippelli – regional manager of the Utica branch of Dunder Mifflin on the mockumentary sitcom The Office
- Uncle Leo – Alice Kramden's uncle on The Honeymooners
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Historical Sketch of the Clinton Grammar School". Clinton Courier. January 24, 1867.
- ^ Tubia, Luke (December 22, 2016). "'Mighty Ducks', 'Little Nicky' Writer Was Born In Utica!". Big Frog 104. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ Chuck Dauphin (April 19, 2012). "Dick Clark Could Rock, But He Started Out Country". Billboard. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- ^ "Music". Annette Connection. Archived from the original on May 21, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
Promised Land, a song she and her husband, Glen Holt wrote together telling the story of her and her family's journey from New York to California.
- ^ Davey Jones (April 8, 2013). "Was Annette Funicello Making Fun Of Utica In 1983 With The Song "The Promised Land"?". WODZ 96.1 AM. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
- ^ "Feature Artist: Vaughn Bode". A&H Magazine. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
- ^ "Happy Herbs". Art and Architecture – San Francisco. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
- ^ Harris, Edward (October 15, 2021). "Steve Wynn: The downtown Utica 'hospital will make you proud. It will save lives'". Observer-Dispatch. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
- ^ "WALKER, Benjamin, (1753 - 1818)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Office of the Historian, United States Congress. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
- ^ Browning, Tamara (May 3, 2012). "Guitarist Joe Bonamassa born to play the blues". State Journal-Register. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019.
- ^ "Utica native finds musical home on independent label". Utica Observer Dispatch. October 14, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
- ^ Derminio, Andrew; Todd, Nicole. "Utica Native And Boston Singer, Coming To Stanley Theatre". WIBX 950. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
- ^ Elaine Woo (January 11, 2011). "Debbie Friedman, self-taught Jewish folk singer, dies at 59". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
- ^ moe. at AllMusic
- ^ Haines, Lee. "ORANGE SCOTT: Our Wesleyan History" (PDF). The Wesleyan Church.
- ^ Lewis, Zach (May 21, 2024). "It's National American Red Cross Founder's Day. What Was Clara Barton's Connection to the Mohawk Valley?". WKTV NewsChannel2. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2020/05/grover-clevelands-indiscretion-oneida-co-connections/
- ^ United States Congress. "Roscoe Conkling (id: C000681)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ "NNDB". Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ "Sanders at Hamilton". Enquiry. May 18, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ Oneida County Freedom Trail
- ^ Mrs. Mecomber (June 14, 2008). "Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, NY". New York Traveler. Archived from the original on June 28, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
- ^ United States Congress. "James Schoolcraft Sherman (id: S000345)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ "NNDB". Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ Bostwick, Joanne. "Author Visits by Daryl Cobb". Author Visits by Daryl Cobb. Daryl Cobb Production. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
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