A list of
notable people from the U.S. state of
Michigan
.
Bolding indicates places in Michigan. People from Michigan are
sometimes referred to as
Michiganders,
Michiganians, or more rarely as
Michiganites. This list includes people
who were born, have lived, or worked in Michigan.
Actors, entertainers and filmmakers
Actors
Directors, filmmakers, and producers
- Mike Binder,
director, screenwriter and actor (born in Birmingham
)
- Kerry Conran,
screenwriter and director (born in Flint
)
- Roger Corman, director and producer
(born in Detroit)
- Jerry Bruckheimer, movie and
TV producer (born in Detroit)
- Robert J. Flaherty, filmmaker best known his
Nanook of the North the
first commercially successful documentary film (born in Iron
Mountain
)
- Francis Ford Coppola, film
director, screen writer, publisher and vintner, three-time Academy Award winner for Best Picture, first
director to have two films competing for Best Picture at the same
time -- The Conversation
and (The Godfather, Part
II (born in Detroit)
- John
Hughes, director and writer of the Brat
Pack films (born in Lansing
)
- Woodie King, Jr., stage and
film director and producer (raised in
Detroit)
- McG, film director (born
in Kalamazoo
)
- Michael Moore,
filmmaker and writer (born in Flint)]
- Sam Raimi, director
most known for movies The Evil Dead,
Spider-Man, and producing Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary
Journeys TV series (born in Royal
Oak
)
- Rich Robins,
Emmy-winning television producer for Fox and Comedy Central (born in Howell
)
- Terry Rossio,
screenwriter and film producer (born in Kalamazoo)
- Paul Schrader,
film director (born in Grand Rapids
)
- Robert Shaye, co-CEO of New Line Cinema (born in
Detroit)
- Bill Carruthers Producer
Director, Soupy, Press Your Luck, Frank Sinatra, Johhny Cash, Media
advisor to Presidents (born in Detroit)
Radio and television people
- Byron Allen, comedian, TV talk show
host (born in Detroit)
- Kristen Bell, Pretty Actress
- Sandra
Bernhard, comedian (born in Flint)
- Cam Brainard,
radio and TV announcer best known as the narrator of Breed All About It on Animal Planet (born in Flint)
- Selma Blair, Pretty Actress
- Bob Eubanks, game
show host most known for The
Newlywed Game (born in Flint)
- Thom Hartmann,
radio talk show host, broadcaster and author (born in
Lansing)
- Casey Kasem, radio personality host
of American Top 40 (born in
Detroit)
- James Lipton, host of the Bravo cable TV series,
Inside the Actors
Studio, writer and poet (born in
Detroit)
- Loni Love, comedian, featured on
television shows such as Chelsea
Lately and I Love
The '80s (born in Detroit)
- Greg Mathis, Judge and later TV
Judge (born in Detroit)
- Ed McMahon, Tonight Show announcer and sidekick to
Johnny Carson (born in
Detroit)
Reporters and sportscasters
- Charles
Collingwood, CBS television news
correspondent (born in Three Rivers
)
- Jill Dobson,
Fox News entertainment correspondent (born
in Quincy
)
- Dick Enberg,
sportscaster (born in Armada
)
- Jim Kaat, MLB Network sportscaster (born in
Zeeland
)
- Suzanne
Malveaux, CNN news reporter (born in
Lansing)
- Steve
Phillips, ESPN baseball analyst (from
Detroit
)
- Amy Robach, MSNBC news anchor (born in Michigan)
- Jay Schadler,
ABC television news
correspondent (born and raised in St.
Joseph
)
- Lem Tucker,
pioneering African-American two-time Emmy
Award-winning news reporter who worked at points for NBC, ABC
and CBS (born in Saginaw
)
Other
Architects
- Charles N. Agree
- Marcus Burrowes
- Emily
Helen Butterfield, Michigan's first female licensed architect,
artist and church architecture innovator (born in Algonac
)
- C. Howard Crane
- John M. Donaldson
- Joseph N. French
- Norman Bel
Geddes, architectural industrial designer, aviation designer,
and theatrical designer best known for the 1939 New York World's Fair
pavilion Futurama he designed for General Motors (born in Adrian
)
- Eric J. Hill
- Albert
Kahn, architect (born in Rhaunen, Germany
; moved to Detroit)
- Louis Kamper
- William E. Kapp
- Florence
Knoll, minimalist archtitect and furniture designer (born in
Saginaw'*)
- John Lautner
- Gordon W. Lloyd
- George D. Mason
- Charles
Willard Moore, architect, leader of the humanistic architecture movement
(born in Benton Harbor
)
- S.
Kenneth Neumann
- Ralph Rapson,
architect best-known for the design of the original Guthrie
Theater
in Minneapolis
(born in Alma
)
- Harry J. Rill
- Gino Rossetti
- Matthew L. Rossetti
- Wirt C. Rowland, architect best-known for his design
of the Guardian
Building
(born in Clinton)
- Eero Saarinen
- Victor Saroki
- Eliel Saarinen
- Ossian Cole
Simonds, late-19th century landscape architect (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Fred L. Smith
- Minoru
Yamasaki, architect, best known for designing the World Trade
Center
. (Born in Seattle
, later moved to Grand
Rapids)
Artists and artisans
Ceramists
Painters
- Mathias Alten,
impressionist painter from
Grand
Rapids
- Frederick
Stuart Church, 19th century painter (born in Grand
Rapids)
- E. Irving Couse, painter and founding member of
the Taos
artist colony (born in Saginaw)
- Ian Hornak,
Realist Painter (born in Philadelphia, PA and moved to
Mount
Clemens
at age 5; later moved to
Detroit)
- Bradley Jones
- Carlos Lopez
- Charles McGee
- Gari Melchers
- Julius Rolshoven
- John Mix
Stanley, 19th century painter and portraitist; cofounder of the
forerunner to the Detroit Institute of Arts
(born in Canandaigua, New York
; moved to Detroit)
- Kent
Twitchell, muralist and painter (born in Lansing)
- Carol Wald
- Kurt Wenner,
painter (born in Ann Arbor
)
- Ezra Winter,
muralist, born 1886 in Traverse City
. Works include Canterbury tales mural (1939), Library of
Congress John Adams
Building
, Washington, D.C. and works in the Guardian
Building, Detroit.
Photographers
Sculptors
Astronauts and aviation pioneers
- Michael J. Bloomfield, astronaut (raised in
Lake
Fenton
)
- William Boeing, aviation pioneer,
founder of Boeing Company (born in
Detroit)
- Roger B. Chaffee, astronaut (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Edward
Heinemann, aircraft designer responsible wholly or in part for
20 major military aircraft, including the A-4 Skyhawk light bomber, the F3D
Skyknight night fighter
and the F4D Skyray
carrier-based fighter aircraft (born in Saginaw)
- Gregory Jarvis, astronaut and
payload specialist—died in the explosion of the space shuttle
Challenger (born
in Detroit)
- Brent W. Jett, astronaut (born in Pontiac
)
- Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, aircraft engineer and
aeronautical innovator (born in Ishpeming
)
- Iven
Carl Kincheloe, Jr., test pilot pioneer (born in
Detroit; raised in Cassopolis
)
- David Leestma,
astronaut (born in Muskegon
)
- Jerry M. Linenger, astronaut (born in
Eastpointe
)
- Charles Lindbergh, pioneer
aviator (born in Detroit)
- Jack R. Lousma, astronaut (born in Grand
Rapids)
- Nancy
Harkness Love, World War II pilot,
squadron commander and aviation training pioneer (born in
Houghton
)
- James
McDivitt, astronaut (born in Chicago
; moved to Jackson
)
- Donald R. McMonagle, astronaut and Manager of
Launch Integration at the Kennedy Space Center
(born in Flint)
- Philip Orin
Parmelee, aviation pioneer trained by the Wright brothers (born in Matherton
; raised in Saint
Johns
)
- Harriet
Quimby, aviation pioneer and first US woman to receive a
pilot's license (born in Coldwater
)
- Ralph Royce,
military aviation pioneer who flew the first US military air
operation (in 1916 in Mexico), oversaw operational air commands
through the 1920-1940s becoming commander of US tactical air forces
in Europe after World War II, later became Director of Economic
Development for the state of Michigan (born in Marquette
)
- Richard A. Searfoss, astronaut (born in
Mount
Clemens)
- Brewster H. Shaw, Jr., astronaut (born in
Cass
City
)
- Leigh Wade, early
aviation pioneer and test pilot (born in Cassopolis)
- Alfred Worden,
astronaut (born in Jackson)
- Fred Zinn, World War I aviator and aviation reconnaissance
pioneer (born in Battle Creek
)
Business leaders and inventors
Automotive industry
- David Dunbar
Buick, founder of Buick Motor
Company (born in Arbroath, Angus
, Scotland
; emigrated to Detroit where he
founded his company; later moved with his company to
Flint)
- Roy D. Chapin, founder of Hudson Motor Car Company and
U.S. Secretary of Commerce under
President Herbert Hoover (born in
Lansing)
- Harlow
Curtice, CEO and President of General
Motors and 1955 Time
magazine Man of the Year (born in
Petrieville;
raised in Eaton Rapids
and began career in Flint)
- William Davidson, CEO of
Guardian Industries,
philanthropist and chairman of Palace Sports and
Entertainment, which owns the Detroit Pistons of the NBA, the Detroit Shock of the WNBA, and the
Tampa Bay Lightning of the
NHL (born in
Detroit)
- John De Lorean, automobile
industry entrepreneur (born in Detroit)
- Horace Elgin
Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer (born in
Niles
)
- John Francis
Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer (born in
Niles)
- William C. Durant, automobile industry pioneer (born
in Boston,
Massachusetts
; moved to Flint and
later Pontiac)
- Max M. Fisher, industrialist, philanthropist (born in
Pittsburgh
; raised in Salem, Ohio
; moved as an adult to metro
Detroit)
- Edsel Ford auto maker (born in
Detroit)
- Henry Ford auto
maker (born in Dearborn
)
- Henry Ford II auto maker (born in
Detroit)
- William Clay Ford auto maker
(born in Detroit)
- Lee Iacocca
- Ransom E. Olds - automobile manufacturer; founded
Olds Motor Vehicle Company (born in
Geneva,
Ohio
, long-time resident of Lansing)
- Henry M. Leland machinist, inventor, engineer and
automotive entrepreneur (with Cadillac) (born in Rutland,
Vermont
; relocated to
Detroit)
- Roger Penske,
founder of Penske Corporation and
the automobile racing team Penske
Racing (born in Shaker Heights, Ohio
; moved to Bloomfield
Hills
)
- Jack Roush,
CEO/owner of Roush Racing NASCAR and Chairman
of the Board of Roush Enterprises (born in Covington,
Kentucky
; lived for some time in Ypsilanti
before moving to Charlotte,
North Carolina
)
- Andra Rush, CEO of
Rush Trucking, the largest Native American-owned
business in the United States (born in Oshwegan Mohawk Reserve in Canada
; moved to
Wayne
)
- Lynn Alfred
Townsend, President and CEO of Chrysler Corporation from 1961-1966,
and its Chairman and CEO from 1967-1975 (born in Flint)
- Preston
Tucker, automobile designer, entrepreneur (born in
Capac
)
Computers, internet and high tech industries
- Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO and
first person to become a billionaire based on stock options
received as a corporate employee (born in
Detroit)
- Tom Halstead-
Biotech CEO, Patient Rights Advocate, American Baha'i (born in
Detroit)
- William
Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, (born in Ann
Arbor)
- Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and its former chief
scientist (born in rural Michigan)
- Peter Karmanos, founder of
Compuware.
- Michael Kinsley, founding editor
of Slate (born in
Detroit)
- Kevin O'Connor, cofounder and CEO
of Doubleclick Internet ad serving software company and advertising
network (born in Detroit)
- Scott McNealy,
co-founder of Sun Microsystems,
Cranbrook
alumni
.
- Larry Page,
entrepreneur, co-founder of Google search engine (born in
Lansing)
Food and food service industry
- Ben Feigenson, co-founder of
Faygo Beverage Company (born in Russia,
immigrated to Detroit)
- Perry Feigenson, co-founder of
Faygo Beverage Company (born in Russia,
immigrated to Detroit)
- Daniel Gerber,
Jr., Gerber Products
Company baby food company leader (born in Fremont
)
- Daniel Gerber,
Sr., Gerber Products
Company baby food company founder (born in Fremont)
- Mike Ilitch, owner and founder of
Little Caesars Pizza, owner of
Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers (born in
Detroit)
- Will Keith
Kellogg, founder of Kellogg
Company (born in Battle Creek)
- Tom Monaghan,
founder of Domino's Pizza (born in
Ann
Arbor)
- David M. Overton, founder and CEO of the Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (born in
Detroit)
- C. W.
Post, founder of Post
Cereals, inventor of Grape-Nuts (born
in Springfield,
Illinois
, moved to Battle Creek)
- Mark Saur, founder
of Old Orchard Brands juice
company (born in Sparta
)
- James Vernor, founder of Vernor's
Company and creator of Vernor's
Ginger Ale (born in Detroit)
Furniture
Other business
- James Anthony Bailey,
circus showman and cofounder of the Ringling Brothers
and Barnum and Bailey Circus(born in
Detroit)
- Don Barden, cable company pioneer and
casino investor (born in Detroit)
- Andrew "Andy"
Beal, billionaire businessman banking and real estate, founder
and chairman of Beal Bank and Beal Aerospace Technologies
(born in Lansing)
- George Gough Booth, publisher
(from Michigan)
- Louis and Tom Borders,
founders of Borders Group
bookstores
- John W. Brown, CEO of Stryker Corporation from 1977-2004,
transforming it into orthopedic implant and medical product maker
leader (born in Tennessee
, moved to Kalamazoo)
- Joseph Bruce,
co-founder of Psychopathic
Records, hip hop singer and professional wrestler (born in
Wayne)
- Leo Burnett, advertising firm
founder
- Irving T. Bush, business leader, funded Bush House in London
and Bush Terminal
in Brooklyn
- Michael Cohrs, member of the Board
of Deutsche Bank (born in
Midland)
- Richard DeVos,
founder of Alticor and former president of
Amway (born in Forest
Hills
in metro Grand
Rapids)
- Herbert Henry
Dow, inventor and one of the founders of the US chemical
industry (born in Belleville, Ontario
; moved to Midland
)
- Orville
Gibson, founder of Gibson
Guitar Corporation (born in Chateaugay, New York; moved as an adult
to Kalamazoo)
- Daniel
Gilbert, financier founder of US' largest online mortgage
company Quicken Loans,owner of NBA's
Cleveland Cavaliers (from
Livonia
)
- Arnold
Gingrich, founder of Esquire magazine (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Berry Gordy, Jr., founder of
Motown Records (born in
Detroit)
- G. A.
Krause, founder of Wolverine World Wide shoe company (from
Rockford
)
- Sebastian S. Kresge, founder of K-Mart (born in Bald Mountain, Pennsylvania;
moved as an adult to Detroit)
- Alex Manoogian, inventor, founder
of Masco, philanthropist (born in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire; moved to
Detroit)
- Orville D. Merillat, founder of Merillat
Kitchens—later Merillat
Industries (born in Fulton Co.
, Ohio, moved to Adrian as a young man)
- Richard
Merillat, entrepreneur, former CEO of Merillat Industries and philanthropist
(from Adrian)
- Stephen M. Ross, born in Detroit, founder and CEO of
The Related Companies real
estate firm, helped to establish the Ross School of Business at the
University of Michigan which bears his name, 95% owner of Miami Dolphins.
- Frank Stanton,
early television executive, president of CBS
from 1946-1972 (born in Muskegon)
- Homer Stryker,
M.D., inventor of the mobile hospital bed and founder of orthopedic
implant and medical product maker Stryker Corporation (born in
Kalamazoo)
- Jon Lloyd
Stryker, architect and billionaire co-owner of the Stryker Corp. and grandson of its founder
Homer Stryker, founder of Arcus Foundation charity for gay and
lesbian issues and great ape conservation (born in Kalamazoo)
- Pat Stryker,
billionaire co-owner of the Stryker
Corp., owner of Stryker Sonoma
vineyards, advocate of bilingual education, and granddaughter of
its founder Homer Stryker (born in
Kalamazoo; moved to Fort
Collins, Colorado
)
- Ronda Stryker,
billionaire co-owner of the Stryker
Corp. and granddaughter of its founder Homer Stryker (born in Kalamazoo)
- William
Upjohn, physician and founder of Upjohn
pharmaceutical company, later merged with Pharmacia and now owned by Pfizer (born in Richland Township,
settled in Kalamazoo)
- Frederick
Upton, co-founder of Whirlpool
Corporation (born in Battle Creek)
- Louis Upton,
co-founder of Whirlpool
Corporation (born in Battle Creek)
- Joseph Utsler,
co-founder of Psychopathic
Records and hip hop singer (born in Wayne
- Jay Van Andel,
co-founder of Alticor and Amway (born in Grand
Rapids)
- Brad Wardell,
President and CEO of Stardock software and
computer game company (born in Texas
; lives in
Michigan)
- Samuel Zell, University of Michigan
alumnus, real estate investor, billionaire, has made large
donations to the University of Michigan. Co-established Samuel Zell
& Robert
H. Lurie Institute
for Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Michigan's Ross School
of Business. Robert H.
Lurie, also a
University of Michigan alumnus, donated the Lurie Tower
.
Cartoonists, illustrators, and animationists
A-L
- T. Casey Brennan, comic book author for
Vampirella, Creepy
and Eerie (from Ann
Arbor)
- J. Scott Campbell, co-founder of the
Cliffhanger imprint of Wildstorm Productions best-known as
the co-creator of Danger Girl
(which was later made into a video game) and Gen¹³(born in East
Tawas
)
- Dave Coverly,
syndicated cartoonist, Speed
Bump comic strip (born in Plainwell
)
- Robert L.
Dickey, 19th and early 20th
century cartoonist, creator of the newspaper strips Buckey and
His Friends and Buster Bean, and illustrator for
Life Magazine (born in Michigan
)
- Dave Dorman, science fiction and
fantasty illustrator and animationist (born in Michigan)
- David S. Goyer, comic book writer and filmmaker, best
known for authoring almost 50 issues of Justice Society of America
for DC Comics and comic-based films
including The Crow: City of
Angels, Dark
City, Blade, and
Blade II. He both wrote and
directed ZigZag and Blade: Trinity as well as being the
co-writer and story creator of Batman
Begins (born in Ann Arbor)
- Ed Emshwiller,
animator, visual artist, and founder of CalArts Computer Animation
Lab (born in Lansing)
- Al Jean, creator of
The Critic, and writer and voice critic
for The Simpsons and Family Guy (born in Farmington
Hills
)
- Geoff Johns, comic book writer,
known primarily for his work with DC
Comics (born in Detroit)
- Vincent Locke, comic book
illustrator, best known for his work on Deadworld and A History of Violence (from metro
Detroit area)
M-Z
- Mike Manley, one of the main
illustrators of DC Comics's Batman and co-creator of Marvel Comics's Darkhawk (born in
Detroit)
- Winsor McCay,
pioneer film animator (born in Spring
Lake
)
- William Messner-Loebs,
comic book writer and artist (from Michigan)
- Dan Mishkin, comic book writer,
co-creator of Amethyst,
Princess of Gem World and Blue
Devil
- James O'Barr, creator of the
comic book series The
Crow (born in Detroit)
- Gary Reed, comic book writer and publisher of Caliber
Comics (born in Detroit)
- Jim Starlin, Marvel Comics illustrator and writer (born in
Detroit)
- John Henry
Striebel, 19th century comic strip pioneer (born in
Bertrand
)
- Craig
Thompson, cartoonist and graphic
novelist best known for Blankets (born in
Traverse City)
- John Thompson,
magazine illustrator, Society of
Illustrators Hall of Fame inductee (born in Three
Rivers)
- Jerry Van
Amerongen, comic strip writer best known for his syndicated
comic panel The Neighborhood (born in Grand
Rapids)
- Larry
Wright, two-time winner of the National Cartoonist Society
Editorial Cartoon Award and creator of the comic strips Wright Angles, Motley
and Kit 'N' Carlyle (from
Allen
Park
)
Civil rights and suffrage leaders and abolitionists
- Irene
Osgood Andrews, woman's rights advocate best known for her
writings on the problems of women in industry (born in
Big
Rapids
)
- Leonard Baker, abolitionist, American Congregational minister
(born in Detroit)
- Olympia Brown,
woman suffrage leader (born in
Prairie Ronde
)
- Pearl M. Hart, civil rights advocate and lawyer,
activist for gay rights and the rights of immigrants (born in
Traverse City)
- Erastus
Hussey, abolitionist and leading Underground Railroad stationmaster
(from Battle Creek)
- Viola Liuzzo,
1960s white civil rights advocate who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan (born in California, Pennsylvania
; moved to Detroit)
- Malcom X, Civil
Rights Leader (born in Omaha, Nebraska
; raised in Lansing)
- Katharine Dexter McCormick,
biologist, woman suffrage leader & philanthropist (born in
Dexter
)
- Rosa Parks, civil
rights activist (born in Tuskegee, Alabama
; moved to Detroit)
- Lawrence
Plamondon, cofounder of the White Panther Party, activist, and first
hippie to be on the FBI
's Most
Wanted List (adopted and raised in Traverse City
, active in Ann
Arbor, now living in Barry
County
)
- Jonathan Walker, abolitionist
and subject of John Greenleaf
Whittier's poem "Man With The Branded Hand (born in
Cape
Cod, Massachusetts
; settled in 'Muskegon)
- Sojourner Truth (lived in Battle
Creek)
Infamous Michiganders
- Jim Bakker,
scandal-ridden televangelist (born in Muskegon)
- Abe Bernstein,
Prohibition-era gangster (born in
New
York
; moved to Detroit)
- Ivan Boesky, inside trader (born in
Detroit)
- Tony Chebatoris, murderer, bank
robber and the only person executed for a crime in Michigan's
history
- Father Charles
Coughlin, notoriously anti-Semitic, pro-Hitler priest of the
interwar years (born in Hamilton, Ontario
; moved to Birmingham)
- Dr.
Hawley Harvey Crippen,
murderer (and first criminal to be captured with the aid of
wireless communication (born
in Michigan, caught in England
)
- Leon Czolgosz, assassin of
President William McKinley (born in
Detroit)
- Andrew Kehoe,
Bath
School disaster
bomber
- Jack
Kevorkian, physician infamous for assisted suicides (born in
Pontiac)
- John List, mass
murderer (born in Bay City
)
- John Mitchell, conspiratorial
Attorney General during Watergate under President Richard Nixon (born in
Detroit)
- Terry Nichols,
Oklahoma
City bombing
co-conspirator (born in Michigan)
- The Purple Gang, 1920s organized
crime group in Detroit
- Jonathan Schmitz, heterosexual
murderer of gay admirer Scott Amedure
after an episode ("Same-Sex Secret Crushes") of the Jenny Jones talk show
- Reed Slatkin, perpetrator of the
largest Ponzi scheme in the United
States since that conducted by Ponzi himself
(born in Detroit)
- Eddie Slovik -
last U.S. soldier executed for desertion (born in
Detroit, raised in Dearborn)
- Aileen
Wuornos, murderer made famous as the subject of the 2003 film
"Monster" starring Charlize Theron
(born in Rochester
Inventors
- Thomas Edison,
inventor, entrepreneur (born in Milan, Ohio
; later settled in Port
Huron
')
- Robert Jarvik,
medical inventor (born in Midland)
- Elijah McCoy,
steam engine lubricator inventor—origin of the phrase "the real
McCoy" (born in Colchester,
Ontario; moved to Ypsilanti)
- Sid Meier, "father of computer
gaming", created the groundbreaking computer game
Civilization among others (born in
Detroit)
- Ephraim Shay,
inventor of the Shay locomotive
(born in Sherman Township, Huron County, Ohio
; moved to Harbor
Springs
)
- Allan R. Thieme inventor of the "Amigo", the first
power-operated vehicle/scooter for individuals with walking
limitations (born in Bridgeport
)
Labor leaders
- Leon E. Bates Labor Leader (born in Carrollton, Missouri
- Owen Bieber,
labor leader (born in North Dorr
, worked in Grand
Rapids)
- Douglas A. Fraser, labor leader (born in Glasgow,
Scotland
; raised in Detroit)
- James R. Hoffa, labor leader (born in Indiana
, moved to Lake Orion
)
- James P. Hoffa, labor leader (born in
Detroit)
- Joseph
Labadie, labor leader, political activist (born in
Paw
Paw
)
- Walter
Reuther, labor leader (born in Wheeling, West Virginia
; moved to Detroit; died in
Pellston
)
- Leonard
Woodcock, labor leader (born in Providence, Rhode Island
; raised in Detroit)
Military figures
- Christopher C. Augur, commanding officer of the Union
Army XXII Corps at the Battle
of Plains Store
in the American Civil
War (born in New York, settled in Michigan from which state he
led troops in the war)
- Remi A. Balduck, World War II naval hero (born in
Detroit)
- Frank
Dwight Baldwin, Major General in the US
Army, twice awarded the Medal of
Honor for his parts in the American Civil War and Indian Wars, also serving in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War (born in
Manchester
)
- Harry Hill
Bandholtz, US Brigadier General in World War I and head of the
US Military Mission to Hungary
(born in Constantine
)
- Joseph Beyrle,
only soldier to have served in both the US Army and the Soviet Army in World War II (born in
Muskegon)
- Ronald A. Burdo, World War II US Marine hero for whom
the high speed transport
USS Burdo (APD-133) was
named (born in Cheboygan
)
- George H. Cannon, first US Marine to receive the
Medal of Honor in World War II (born in Webster
Groves, Missouri
; raised in
Detroit)
- Joshua G. Cantor-Stone, crew member of the USS
Lexington and Purple Heart recipient
(born in Detroit)
- Lewis Cass,
Secretary of War under President Andrew
Jackson, Secretary of State under President James Buchanan, Brigadier General in the
War of 1812, 1848 Democratic Party
presidential nominee, governor of Michigan Territory (born in Exeter,
New Hampshire
; moved to Michigan when appointed
governor)
- William R. Charette, Korean
War US Navy hospital corpsman who selected the Unknown
Soldier of World War II
(born in Ludington
)
- Ferdinand J. Chesarek, US Army General who served
as Comptroller of the Army (born in Calumet
)
- John G. Coburn, Four-star general, Commander U.S. Army Materiel Command (born in
Ypsilanti)
- George
Armstrong Custer, US General—born in New
Rumley, Ohio
; moved to Monroe
)
- Hugh A. Drum, US General who fought in the
Philippine-American War and World War I, later becoming Chief of
Staff of the First United
States Army, AEF
(born in Fort
Brady)
- Sarah Emma
Edmundson, Union spy and (famously disguised as a man) soldier
([born in Magaguadavic
Settlement, New
Brunswick
, Canada;
moved to Flint)
- Anna
Etheridge (aka Michigan Annie), Civil War nurse
enlisted with the Michigan 2nd Infantry, active in nearly every
major battle of the war, awarded the Kearney Cross for bravery at the Battle
of Chancellorsville
(born in Wayne
County
)
- Elon J. Farnsworth, Union Army Cavalry General in
the American Civil War, killed at the Battle
of Gettysburg
(born in Green
Oak
)
- Aubrey Fitch,
US Navy admiral (born in Saint
Ignace
)
- Douglas
Harold Fox, World War II naval hero killed at Guadalcanal
(born in Walled
Lake
)
- Ben Hebard
Fuller, Commandant of
the Marine Corps (born in Big
Rapids)
- Eugen F. George, World War II naval hero (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Duane D. Hackney, Vietnam
War US Air Force hero (born in
Flint)
- Francis P. Hammerberg, United States Navy diver who was awarded the Medal of Honor (born in Daggett
)
- Henry Moore Harrington,
officer in the U.S.
7th Cavalry Regiment who died with
George Armstrong Custer at
the Battle
of Little Big Horn
(born in Albion,
New York, but moved as a child to Coldwater
- Thomas C. Hart, US Navy Director of Submarines in World
War I, US Navy admiral in World War II and later Senator from
Connecticut
(born in Davison
)
- Frank Knox,
Secretary of the Navy under
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
1936 Republican Vice Presidential candidate and newspaper owner
(born in Boston,
Massachusetts; moved to Grand
Rapids)
- Alexander Macomb,
commanding general of the United States Army from 1828-1841 (born
in Detroit)
- James Joseph
Raby, Rear Admiral, USN (born in Bay
City)
- Karl W. Richter, Vietnam era Air Force hero and at
23 became the youngest pilot in that conflict to shoot down a MiG
in air-to-air combat, and winner of numerous medals of valor
including the Air Force
Cross, Distinguished Flying
Cross and Purple Heart (born in
Holly
)
- Dean Rockwell,
D-Day hero, coach of the US Greco-Roman wrestling team at the
Tokyo
1964 Summer
Olympics and Albion College
football coach (born in rural Cass
County
)
- Frederick C. Sherman, World War II US Navy admiral
(born in Michigan)
- Oliver Sipple, marine who saved
President Gerald Ford's life during a
1975 assassination attempt (born in Detroit)
- Willard J. Smith, United States Coast Guard Commandant (born in Suttons
Bay
)
- Carl W. Weiss, World War II U.S. Marine
Corps hero who was killed in action at Guadalcanal (born in Detroit)
- Donald W. Wolf, World War II U.S. Marine
Corps hero who was killed in action at Guadalcanal (born in Hart
)
Musicians and composers
Classical
- Joseph Alessi, classical
tromboinst (born in Detroit)
- Meredith
Arwady, opera mezzo-soprano (born in Kalamazoo)
- Robert Ashley,
opera composer (born in Ann Arbor)
- Theodore Baskin, principal
oboist of the Montreal
Symphony Orchestra (born in Detroit)
- Gwenneth Bean,
opera contralto (born in Muskegon)
- William
Bolcom, classical pianist and composer, winner of three
Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize in music (born in Seattle
; moved to Ann Arbor)
- Chris Bates
Carducci, opera baritone born in Monroe)
- David
DiChiera, Director of the Detroit Opera House
's Michigan Opera
Theatre.
- Maria Ewing, opera mezzo-soprano and
soprano (born in Detroit)
- James Hartway, classical composer
(born in Detroit)
- John S. Hilliard, classical composer (born in
Hot
Springs, Arkansas
; lived in Interlochen)
- Angela Jia
Kim, classical pianist (born in East
Lansing
)
- Evans
Mirageas, classical music record producer (for Decca, former artistic advisor to the Boston Symphony and now independent artistic
advisor to Cincinnati Opera,
Milwaukee Symphony and others
(born in Ann Arbor)
- David Ott,
classical composer (born in Kalamazoo
- Elizabeth
Parcells, opera soprano (born in Detroit;
retired in Grosse Pointe Farms
)
- Roger Reynolds, composer and a
Pulitzer Prize winner in 1989 for
Whispers Out of Time (born in
Detroit)
- Leo Sowerby,
organist, winner of a Pulitzer Prize
in music and classical composer of symphonies, choral works and
tone poems such as his 1929
Prairie (born in Grand Rapids)
- Thomas
Schippers, conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
(born in Kalamazoo)
- George
Shirley, opera singer (born in Indianapolis
; raised in Detroit)
- Joseph Silverstein, violinist
and concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (born in
Detroit)
- Cheryl Studer,
opera singer (born in Midland)
- David
Weber, classical clarinetist (born in Vilna,
Lithuania
; raised in Detroit)
Jazz and Blues
- Pepper Adams,
jazz baritone saxophonist (born in Highland
Park
)
- Geri Allen, jazz pianist (born in
Detroit)
- Dorothy Ashby, jazz harpist (born
in Detroit)
- Anita Baker,
jazz and R&B singer (born in Toledo,
Ohio
; raised in Detroit)
- Marcus Belgrave, jazz trumpeter
(born in Detroit)
- Kenny Burrell, jazz guitarist
(born in Detroit)
- Donald Byrd, jazz trumpeter (born in
Detroit)
- Betty Carter, Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist (born in
Flint, Michigan)
- Regina Carter, jazz violinist
(born in Detroit)
- James Carter, jazz
woodwind player (born in Detroit)
- Ron Carter, jazz bassist and member
of the Miles Davis Quintet (born in
Ferndale, Michigan)
- Alice Coltrane, jazz keyboardist,
harpist and composer (born in Detroit)
- Xavier Davis,
jazz pianist (born in Grand Rapids)
- Tommy Flanagan, jazz pianist best
known as Ella Fitzgerald's
accompanist (born in Detroit)
- Kenny Garrett, jazz saxophonist
(born in Detroit)
- Barry Harris, bebop jazz pianist and educator (born in
Detroit)
- Joe Henderson,
jazz saxophonist (born in Lima
, Ohio
; moved to
Detroit)
- Milt Jackson jazz vibraphonist (born in
Detroit)
- Elvin Jones jazz
drummer of the hard
bop era, part of John Coltrane's
quartet (born in Pontiac, Michigan)
- Hank Jones, jazz
pianist (born in Vicksburg, Mississippi
and grew up in Pontiac)
- Isham Jones,
1920s bandleader, violinist, saxophonist and songwriter (born in Coalton, Ohio
, grew up in Saginaw)
- Thad Jones, jazz
trumpeter (born in Pontiac)
- Earl Klugh, Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist (born in
Detroit)
- Yusef Lateef,
jazz saxophonist and flutist (born in Chattanooga
, Tennessee; raised in
Detroit)
- Father Norman O'Connor
(1921-2003), priest, jazz
music aficionado, writer, radio and TV show host (born in
Detroit)
- Dave Pike, jazz vibraphonist (born in
Detroit)
- Dianne Reeves, jazz vocalist and
only person to have won the Grammy
Award for "Best Jazz
Vocal Performance" three times in a row (born in
Detroit)
- Frank Rosolino, jazz trombonist
(born in Detroit)
- Sonny Stitt,
jazz saxophonist (born in Boston, Massachusetts; raised in Saginaw)
- Art Van Damme,
jazz accordionist (born in Norway
)
- Sippie
Wallace, blues singer (born in Houston
, later settled in
Detroit)
- Rudy Weidoeft, jazz saxophonist
(born in Detroit)
Motown, R&B and Soul music
- Florence Ballard, Motown era
singer, original lead singer of The
Supremes, (born in Rosetta,
Mississippi; raised in Detroit)
- Lamont Dozier, Motown era
composer, member of Holland-Dozier-Holland ((born in
Detroit)
- The Four Tops, Motown era group
with two number one hits (formed in Detroit)
- Aretha
Franklin, singer known as "The Queen of Soul" (born in Memphis,
Tennessee
; raised in Detroit)
- Al Green Soul &
Gospel Singer, & Pastor; grew up in Grand Rapids
.
- Brian Holland, Motown era
composer, member of Holland-Dozier-Holland( (born in
Detroit)
- Edward Holland, Jr., Motown
era composer, member of Holland-Dozier-Holland(born in
Detroit)
- Adina Howard,
R&B singer (born in Grand Rapids)
- Mable John, first
female singer to sign with Berry Gordy
(born in Bastrop,
Louisiana
; raised in Detroit)
- The Jones Girls, R&B Trio
(born in Detroit)
- Jr. Walker & the
All-Stars, Motown era group whose song "Shotgun" went
number one (formed in Battle Creek)
- Bettye
LaVette, soul singer (born in Muskegon)
- Barbara Lewis,
singer known for hits Baby I'm Yours and Make Me Your
Baby (born in South Lyon
)
- The
Marvelettes, Motown era group whose "Please Mr. Postman" went number one
(formed in Inkster
)
- Freda Payne, Motown era singer (born
in Detroit)
- Martha Reeves,
solo R&B singer and lead singer of the Motown group Martha and the Vandellas (born in
Eufaula,
Alabama
; raised in Detroit)
- Smokey Robinson, Motown era
singer (born in Detroit)
- Diana Ross, lead singer of The Supremes and solo artist (born in
Detroit)
- The Spinners,
R&B group (formed in Ferndale
)
- The Temptations, Motown group
that won three Grammy awards with 14 number
one hits (begun in Detroit)
- Edwin Starr,
soul music singer, best known for his
anti-war number one hit "War" (born in
Nashville, Tennessee
, raised in Cleveland, Ohio
, lived in Detroit
- Mary Wells, Motown era singer best
known for her song My Guy which hit number one (born in
Detroit)
- Kim Weston,
Motown and R&B singer (born in Detroit;
currently lives in Israel
)
- Jackie Wilson, R&B singer
(born in Detroit)
- Stevie Wonder,
singer, musician, songwriter and winner of 24 Grammy awards (born in Saginaw)
- Philippe Wynne, R&B and
gospel singer (born in Detroit)
- LaKisha Jones,
R&B and Soul singer who ranked fourth in the sixth season of
American Idol (born in
Flint)
Rock, Rap and Pop
- Bear
vs. Shark (raised in Highland and
White
Lake
)
- Aaliyah, singer and
actress (born in Brooklyn, New York
; raised in
Detroit)
- Gregg
Alexander, singer and songwriter (from Grosse
Pointe
)
- Anybody Killa,
rapper (raised in Detroit)
- Hank Ballard, early rock musician
best known for The Twist (born in
Detroit)
- The Black Dahlia
Murder, a melodic death
metal/metalcore band (begun in
Detroit)
- Blaze Ya
Dead Homie, rapper (raised in Romeo
)
- Sonny Bono,
singer, record producer and California
politician (born in
Detroit)
- Donald Brewer,
drummer for Grand Funk Railroad
(born in Flint)
- Alice Cooper, musician (born in
Detroit)
- Eminem, rapper (born
in St. Joseph, Missouri; raised
in Warren
)
- Esham, rapper (born in
Long
Island, New York
; raised in
Detroit)
- Mark Farner,
lead singer of Grand Funk
Railroad (born in Flint, Michigan)
- Doug Fieger, lead singer of The Knack and co-writer of "My Sharona" (Detroit)
- Glenn Frey,
founding member of rock band The Eagles
(born in Royal Oak)
- Craig Frost,
keyboardist (born in Flint, Michigan)
- James Gurley, rock guitarist (born
in Detroit)
- Bill Haley, early
rock musician most known for his Rock Around the Clock (born in
Highland Park)
- Insane Clown Posse - hip hop
group (begun in Detroit)
- Maynard
James Keenan, frontman of Tool and A Perfect Circle (born in
Ravenna,
Ohio
, raised in Scottville
)
- Still Remains,
MetalCore band (startedGrand Rapids)
- Anthony
Kiedis, lead singer, Red Hot
Chili Peppers (born in Grand
Rapids)
- Chad Smith,
drummer, Red Hot Chili Peppers
(raised in Bloomfield Hills)
- Kid Rock, musician
(born in Romeo; raised in Mount
Clemens)
- Wayne Kramer, guitarist
(born in Detroit)
- Madonna, singer (born in
Bay
City; raised in Pontiac and Rochester Hills
)
- "MC5" - groundbreaking protopunk band (begun in
Detroit)
- Natas, hip hop group (begun in
Detroit)
- Jason Newsted,
bassist for Metallica (born in
Battle
Creek)
- Matt Noveskey, bassist for
Blue October
- Ted Nugent, musician (born in
Detroit)
- Craig Owens,
vocalist of the band Chiodos (from
Davison)
- Iggy Pop, rock
musician (born in Ypsilanti
)
- Suzi Quatro, singer, bassist, and
actress (born in Detroit)
- The Romantics - New Wave rock band (begun in
Detroit)
- Mitch Ryder,
rock musician (born in Hamtramck
)
- Bob Schneider,
Texas-based
rock musician and former boyfriend of Sandra Bullock (born in Ypsilanti)
- Bob Seger, rock
singer (born in Dearborn ; raised in Ann
Arbor)
- Del Shannon,
early rock singer and guitarist (born in Coopersville
)
- Jim 'Soni'
Sonefeld, drummer & percussionist for Hootie & The Blowfish (born in
Lansing)
- Sponge, post-grunge band ( formed
in Detroit)
- The Stooges,
rock band (begun in Ann Arbor)
- Taproot, nu
metal band (begun in Ann Arbor)
- "Thought
Industry - progressive metal
band (begun in Kalamazoo)
- Twiztid, hip hop
group (begun in Eastpointe, Michigan)
- DJ
Mahler & MC Joel, of Last 2 Standin' - Hip-Hop Rappers &
Producers (raised in Marquette)
- "The Verve
Pipe", post-grunge band (formed in East
Lansing)
- Uncle Kracker,
rock musician (born in Mount Clemens)
- The Von Bondies, indie rock/alternative band (from
Detroit)
- Narada
Michael Walden, multi-platinum record producer and songwriter
(born in Kalamazoo)
- "The White Stripes",
minimalist blues-rock duo (begun in Detroit)
- D'arcy
Wretzky, bass player for The
Smashing Pumpkins (born in South
Haven
)
- Bedford Drive,
Alternative rock band (Begun in Southgate
)
Other musicians
- Justin Hicks,
Hip-Hop Musician, Ann Arbor
- Johnny Desmond, singer (born in
Detroit)
- Patrick
Elkins, songwriter, performance
artist and puppeteer (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Marion Hutton,
singer (born in Battle Creek)
- Bernie Krause, pioneer in Moog
synthesizers and folk singer with The
Weavers (born in Detroit)
- Stephen
Lynch, comic musician (born in Abington, Pennsylvania; raised in
Saginaw)
- Joseph LoDuca, film score composer
(born in Michigan)
- John Lowery, guitarist, better known
as John5. Former member of Marilyn Manson (born in
Grosse Pointe).
- Geoff Moore, Christian contemporary music
Grammy-winning singer and songwriter (born in
Michigan)
- Zeena Parkins, avant garde harpist
(born in Detroit)
- Sycamore
Smith, folk singer (born in Marquette)
- Tom
Smith, filker, folk musician (lives in
Ann
Arbor)
- Noel Stookey,
better known as "Paul" in Peter,
Paul and Mary folk group (born in Birmingham)
- Sufjan Stevens, folk musician
(born in Detroit)
- George Winston, Grammy Award-winning new age pianist (born in
Michigan)
- Edgar Struble,
musical director, vocalist, instrumentalist, composer, worked with
Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, The
Oak Ridge Boys, Boyz II Men, and
many others (grew up in Scottville)
Native American leaders
- Andrew
Blackbird, Ottawa leader,
historian and negotiator in the Treaty of 1855 (born in
Harbor Springs)
- Abraham
Burnett, Potawatomi Mission Band
leader and, as principal interpreter for the Baptist missionary Isaac
McCoy, instrumental in their forced resettlement in the 1830s
to Kansas
(born in soutwest Michigan)
- Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish(or Bad
Bird), Potawatomi chief (from
Michigan)
- Mecosta, Potawatomi chief for whom Mecosta
County
is named (born near present-day
Big
Rapids)
- Nottawaseepe, Potawatomi chief poisoned by his own people for
trying to convince them to accept the forced removal of 1837
(resided in western Michigan)
- John Okemos,
Ojibwa chief—for whom the city of
Okemos
is named and signer of the Treaty of Saginaw (born on Apple Island in present-day West
Bloomfield
)
- Simon Pokagon,
Potawatomi chief, fluent in Latin, Greek,
English and Native American languages, graduate of Oberlin
College
, poet, folklorist, essayist, public speaker, cited
as the most highly educated full blood Native American of the late
19th century, twice visited Abraham
Lincoln and smoked a peace pipe with Ulysses S. Grant, it is from Pokagon that Western
Michigan's Pokagon Potawatomi take their name (born in
Berrien County
, settled in Hartland
)
- Pontiac, Native American chief and
war leader (born near the Detroit
River)
- Shavehead,
Potawatomi chief and warrior (born in
Cass
County)
- Shaw-shaw-way-nay-beece, Ojibwa chief and signer of the Treaty of 1855 (born
in Isabella County
)
- Shingabawassin, Ojibwa
chief (born at the mouth of the St.
Marys River
near Sault
Sainte Marie
)
- Shoppenagon,
Ojibwa chief (born in Indianfields, an Ojibwa
village near Grayling
)
- Wawatam, Ojibwa chief at Michilimackinac (born near Mackinaw
City
)
- Wosso (also called
Owosso for whom the city of Owosso
is named), chief of the Shiawassee
band of Ojibwa and signer of the Treaty of Saginaw (born near present-day
Owosso)
Political figures
National political figures
- Spencer
Abraham, US Senator and United States Secretary of
Energy (born in East Lansing
)
- Henry B. Brown,US Supreme Court
Justice from 1891-1906 and author for the Court
opinion in Plessy
v. Ferguson (born in South
Lee, Massachusetts
; settled and practiced law in
Detroit)
- Jesse Brown, US Secretary of
Veterans' Affairs under President Bill
Clinton (born in Detroit)
- Wilber
Marion Brucker, United States Secretary of
the Army and Michigan governor (born in Saginaw)
- Roy D. Chapin,Sr., United States Secretary of
Commerce under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (born in
Lansing
)
- Betty Ford, former First Lady, and
advocate of breast cancer early detection and chemical dependency
treatment
- Gerald R. Ford, US President (born in Omaha,
Nebraska; raised in Grand
Rapids)
- Reed E. Hundt, Federal Communications
Commission Chairman under President Bill Clinton (born in Ann
Arbor)
- Robert McClelland,
Governor of Michigan from 1852-1853 and US Secretary of the Interior
under President James Buchanan (born
in Greencastle, Pennsylvania
; settled in Monroe)
- Frank Murphy,
Detroit Mayor, Michigan Governor, the last Governor-General of the
Philippines
and the first High Commissioner of the Philippines, United States Attorney
General, and United States Supreme Court
Justice
- George W. Romney, Governor of Michigan, former chairman
of American Motors, U.S.
Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development, (born in Chihuahua, Mexico
, raised in Salt Lake City
, moved to Detroit)
- Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, and
2008 president candidate, (born in Detroit).
- Rodney E. Slater, U.S. Secretary of Transportation
under President Bill Clinton (born in
Marianna, Arkansas
; lived some time in Ypsilanti)
- Margaret Spellings, United States Secretary of
Education under President George
W. Bush, and co-author of the
No Child Left Behind
Act
- Gene Sperling,
National Economic Advisor to President Bill
Clinton (from Ann Arbor)
- Potter
Stewart, US Supreme Court justice (born in Jackson,
Michigan)
- Edwin F. Uhl, served as Mayor of Grand
Rapids, Ambassador
to Germany
, and Assistant Secretary of State, and for
thirteen days in 1895 Acting U.S. Secretary of State (born in Rush,
New York
, raised in Ypsilanti, moved to Grand
Rapids)
Michigan political figures
- Russell A. Alger, Governor of Michigan and U.S.
Senator,
Secretary of War
under President William McKinley
during the Spanish American War
(born in Lafayette Township in Medina County, Ohio
; moved to Grand
Rapids)
- Austin Blair,
fervently anti-slavery governor of Michigan during the United States Civil War (born in
Caroline, New York
; settled in Eaton
Rapids)
- Prentiss M. Brown, U.S. Senator in the 1930s
and later chairman of Detroit
Edison Company and chairman of the Mackinac Bridge
Authority (born in St.
Ignace
)
- John Conyers, second-longest
serving member of the US House of Representatives (born in
Detroit)
- John Dingell,
longest serving member of the US House of Representatives (born in
Colorado
Springs, Colorado
; raised in
Detroit)
- John Engler,
three-term Governor of Michigan (born in Mount
Pleasant
)
- Jennifer
Granholm, Governor of Michigan, (born in Vancouver, British Columbia;
raised in San
Francisco
Bay Area
in California; Northville
resident at time of her
election)
- Philip A. Hart, US Senator (born in Bryn
Mawr, Pennsylvania
; moved to Detroit)
- Carl Levin, US Senator (born in
Detroit)
- T. John Lesinski, Michigan Lieutenant Governor
and judge (born in Detroit)
- Sander M. Levin, US Congressman (born in
Detroit)
- Charles E. Potter, U.S. Senator
- Donald W. Riegle, Jr., US Senator
- Dorothy Comstock Riley,
Michigan Supreme Court judge, and first Hispanic woman to be
elected to the Supreme Court of any state
- Debbie
Stabenow, US Senator (born in Gladwin
)
- Arthur H. Vandenberg, US Senator (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Howard Wolpe,
US Congressman, later appointed by President Bill Clinton as Special Envoy to the Great
Lakes Region of Africa, then Director of the Africa Program at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars
, part of the Smithsonian Institution
, (born in Los Angeles, California
, settled in Kalamazoo)
Other political figures
- Arthur Brown, U.S.
Senator
from Utah
(born in
Kalamazoo)
- Laurie
Perry Cookingham, known as the “Dean of City Managers” since
serving as City Manager of Kansas
City, Missouri
for 19 years, a tenure longer than any city
manager in any city in the United States (born in Saginaw
- Dr. Royal S. Copeland, U.S. Senator from New
York (born in Dexter)
- Thomas Dewey,
New York politician, lost presidential race in 1948 (born in
Owosso)
- Frank Emerson,
Wyoming
governor (born in Saginaw)
- Elisha Peyre
Ferry, first governor of the Washington Territory and Civil War
colonel (born in Monroe)
- Obadiah
Gardner, US Senator for Maine
(born near Port
Huron)
- Tom Hayden, social and political
activist, politician (born in Detroit)
- James A. Miner, first chief justice of Utah (born in
Marshall)
- Tom
Price, Congressman from Georgia
(born in Lansing)
- Clarence
Eugene Ridley, founder (in 1933) of the Public Administration Service,
first director of the International City
Managers' Association serving from 1929–56, and municipal
services standards developer (born in Armada)
- John
Sinclair, political activist, writer, musician (born in
Flint)
- Jan Ting, unsuccessful 2006 candidate
of U.S. Senate for
Delaware
(born in Dearborn)
Religious leaders
- Dave Armstrong, Roman Catholic (and former Evangelical Christian apologist and author (born in
Detroit)
- Frederic
Baraga, Roman Catholic Slovenian
American missionary, bishop and Ojibway and
Ottawa
grammarian (born near
Dobrnič (Lower
Carniola (Dolenjska)), in present-day Slovenia
; settled among the Native American mission at
Arbre Croche (now Cross Village
, Michigan)
- D. M. Canright,
early leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
(born in Kinderhook
)
- D. Stanley Coors, American Bishop of the Methodist Church (born in Pentwater
)
- Daniel Dolan, Traditional Catholic bishop (born in
Detroit)
- Walter Elliott, 19th
century Roman Catholic priest whose writing sparked the Americanism heresy (born in
Detroit)
- James
Cardinal Hickey, Cardinal
for sixteen years and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of
Washington (born in Midland)
- Bruce R. McConkie, prominent Apostle and theologian of
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born in
Ann
Arbor
)
- Josh McDowell,
leading Evangelical Christian
apologist and author (born in Battle Creek
)
- Wallace Fard Muhammad,
founder of Nation of Islam
(birthplace debated; moved to Detroit and founded
his first mosque there)
- Thomas Gumbleton, Roman
Catholic auxiliary bishop (born in Detroit)
- Prophet James F. Jones, founder of the Church of the Universal
Triumph, Dominion of God, 1940s abd 1950s with a mass following who
preached among other things the wearing of girdles as a means of
salvation and prophesied universal immortality in the year 2000
(born in Birmingham, Alabama
; moved to Detroit where he
founded his church and lived until his death in 1971)
- Henry
Churchill King, theologian, president of Oberlin
College and seminal figure with the King-Crane Commission on the status of
Palestine (born in Hillsdale
)
- Baba Rexheb,
Moslem leader and mystic, founder of the Bektashi Sufi lodge in Taylor
(born in Gjirokastër
, Ottoman Empire
now Albania
; fled to Taylor)
- Edmund
Cardinal Szoka, President of the Pontifical Commission for
Vatican City State (born in Grand
Rapids)
- John A. Trese, priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Detroit (born in St. Clair, Michigan
)
- Allen Henry
Vigneron, Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland in
California (born in Mount
Clemens)
- Geerhardus
Vos, Protestant theologian known as the "Father of Reformed
Biblical Theology" (born in Heerenveen
in the Netherlands
; moved at 19 to Grand
Rapids)
- Raymond
Wargelin, president of Finnish
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, executive director of
the Suomi Synod Luther
League, theology professor at Suomi
College, editor-in-chief of Lutheran Counselor magazine, advocate of
Finnish-American culture (born in Republic
)
- Ellen G. White, founding member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
(born in Maine, settled in Battle Creek with husband James)
- James
Springer White, founding member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
(born in Palmyra,
Maine
, settled in Battle Creek)
- Rabbi Sherwin Wine, founder of the
Society for Humanistic
Judaism (born in Detroit)
Scholars
Economists, mathematicians and social scientists
- Henry Carter
Adams, economist (born in Davenport, Iowa
; moved to Ann
Arbor)
- Earl Babbie, sociologist (born in
Detroit)
- Bruce Bartlett, economist who, as
an advocate of supply-side
economics, served as advisor to both Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush (born
in Ann
Arbor)
- George
David Birkhoff, mathematician best known for the ergodic theorem (born in Overisel, Michigan
)
- Edward
Griffith Begle, mathematician
specializing in the field of topology best
known for his role as the director of the School Mathematics Study
Group, the primary group credited for developing what came to
be known as The New Math (born in
Saginaw)
- Stanley Dunin,
mathematician, aerospace engineer and consultant for the World Bank (born near Konin, Poland
; fled to the US during World War II and was
raised in Monroe)
- Carol Karp, mathematician and leader
in the theory of infinitary logic (born in Forest Grove)
- Eduard
Lindeman, educational pioneer (born in St.
Clair)
- Tom Morey, mathematician, aerospace
engineer, musician and surfing analyst (born in
Detroit)
- Michael
Porter, economist and author (born in Ann
Arbor)
- Jeff Sachs, economist, economic
adviser to nations, author, director of the Earth Institute at
Columbia University(born in Detroit)
- Martha Seger,
economist, in 1984 became first woman appointed to a full term on
the Federal Reserve Board,
Governor of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.
from 1984-1991 (born in Adrian)
- Claude E. Shannon, "father of information theory"
(born in Petoskey
; raised in Gaylord
)
- Theda Skocpol, sociologist and
political scientist (born in Detroit
- Stephen Smale,
Fields Medal-winning mathematician
(born in Flint)
Historians
- Ray Stannard
Baker, historian and biographer of President Woodrow Wilson, (born in Lansing)
- Charles Bigelow, print
historian, designer MacArthur
Foundation Award winner and co-inventor of the Wingding and Lucida pring
fonts (born in Detroit)
- Bruce Catton,
historian of the US Civil War (born in
Petoskey
; raised in Benzonia
)
- John D'Arms,
history of ancient Rome (born in Poughkeepsie, New York
, moved to Ann
Arbor)
- Natalie
Zemon Davis, historian and feminist who pioneered the "new
social history" emphasizing anthropology, cultural history and the role of peasants,
artisans and common laborers, her 1983 The Return of Martin Guerre
became the foundation of films in both France
and the United States (born in
Detroit)
- Samuel J. Eldersveld, political scientist at the
University of Michigan
and former mayor of Ann
Arbor (from Ann Arbor)
Philosophers
Scientists
- Werner Emmanuel
Bachmann, biochemistry pioneer in
steroid synthesis who carried out
the first total synthesis of a steroidal
hormone, equilenin (born in
Detroit)
- Liberty Hyde
Bailey, botanist (born in South
Haven)
- Bob Bemer,
computer scientist (born in Sault
Ste.
Marie)
- Robert John Braidwood,
archaeologist and anthropologist (born in
Detroit)
- J. Harlen Bretz, geologist (born in
Saranac
)
- Lyman James
Briggs, engineer, physicist and administrator, best known for
heading the Briggs Advisory Committee on Uranium -- widely
known as the Uranium Committee or
the Advisory Committee (born in
Assyria
-- near Battle Creek)
- Robert L. Carroll, paleontologist (born in
Kalamazoo)
- Douglas Houghton
Campbell, botanist (born in Detroit)
- Charles
Horton Cooley, one of the founders of sociology (born in Ann
Arbor)
- Kazimierz
Fajans, chemist (born in Warsaw, Poland
, fled Nazi persecution to
settle in Ann Arbor)
- David
Fairchild, botanist (born in Lansing)
- Robert M. Graham, computer scientist, contributed to
Multics (born in Michigan)
- Alfred
Hershey, Nobel Prize-winning
bacteriologist (born in
Owosso)
- Robert E. Horton, "father of hydrology, ecologist and soil scientist (born in
Parma
)
- Nicholas Hotton III,
paleontologist (born in Michigan)
- Douglass
Houghton, first state geologist of Michigan (born in Troy,
New York
; moved to Detroit and major
explorer of Keeweenaw County
)
- John H. Hubbell, radiation physicist (born in
Ann
Arbor)
- Edward Israel,
astronomer and polar explorer (born in Kalamazoo)
Detroit)
- Alfred V. Kidder, archaeologist (born in
Marquette)
- Forest Ray
Moulton, astronomer (born in Le Roy,
Michigan
)
- Wardell
Pomeroy, psychologist known for his work on sexual behavior
(born in Kalamazoo)
- Paul Rehak,
archaeologist born in Ann Arbor
- Jonas Salk
[50515] Head of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan
- Glenn T. Seaborg, chemist, Nobel prize winner (born in Ishpeming
)
- Samuel C. C. Ting,
Nobel Prize- winning physicist (born in
Ann
Arbor)
- James Craig
Watson, astronomer (born in Fingal, Ontario
; raised in Ann
Arbor)
- Thomas
Huckle Weller, Nobel Prize winner in
medicine (born in Ann Arbor)
- Leslie White,
anthropologist and major advocate of neoevolutionism (born in Kansas, moved to Ann
Arbor)
Other scholars and researchers
- Alfred Barr, art
historian and the founding director of the Museum
of Modern Art
(born in Detroit)
- Benjamin Franklin Bailey, electrical engineer, professor and
researcher (born in Sheridan
)
- Ellen Dannin,
Penn
State University
law professor and foremost expert in the labor
law of New
Zealand
and the United States (born in Flint)
- Richard
Ellmann, literary critic and biographer (born in
Highland Park)
- H. Wiley Hitchcock, musicologist director for the Institute for Studies in
American Music and coauthor of the New Grove Dictionary of
American Music (born in Detroit)
- Emmett Leith,
electrical engineering professor and inventor of three-dimensional
holography (born in
Detroit; moved to Ann
Arbor)
- Larry
Soderquist, Corporate and Securities law expert, novelist, and
Vanderbilt
professor (born in Ypsilanti)
Sports figures
Writers
Others
- Dita Von Teese, Internationally
known Burlesque dancer (born in West Branch, Michigan)
- Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the
International
Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organization, the stated
mission of which is to resist Israeli occupation using nonviolent
tactics, but which is regarded by some as condoning terrorism (born in Detroit)
- Harry
Blackstone, Sr.-- "The Great Blackstone, magician (born in
Chicago,
Illinois
; settled in Colon
-- where his home is preserved as the
American Museum of Magic)
- Harry
Blackstone, Jr., magician and TV performer (born in
Three
Rivers)
- Allen S. Browne, co-founder of Kiwanis (from Detroit)
- Ralph Bunche, 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner; the first ever
won by an African American (born in Detroit)
- Christie
Brinkley, model (born in Monroe)
- William D. Campbell, major leader in the World Scout Foundation (born in
Flint)
- Martin H. Carmody, Depression-era Supreme Knight of
the Knights of Columbus (born in
Grand
Rapids)
- Daniel Ellsberg, military
analyst and political activist best known for gathering the
Pentagon Papers (raised in metro
Detroit)
- Frederick Carl Frieseke, Impressionist painter (born in
Owosso)
- Carole Gist, Miss USA 1990 (born in
Detroit)
- Kirsten
Haglund, Miss America 2008 (born in
Farmington Hills
)
- Robert G. Heft, designer of current 50-star American
flag (born in Saginaw)
- G. Edward Knapp, forester, forest conservation
advocate, member of Georgia House of Representatives (1966-1971),
instrumental in mechanization of forestry during labor shortages of
World War II (born in Ypsilanti)
- Vince Megna,
lawyer, author and primary shaper of the so-called "lemon laws"
(born in Iron Mountain)
- Marvin Mitchelson, celebrity
divorce attorney (born in Detroit)
- Jerry
Mitchell, Tony Award-winning
choreographer (born in Paw Paw)
- Kenya Moore, 1993 Miss USA (born in Detroit)
- Joseph C. Prance, co-founder of Kiwanis (from Detroit)
- Kaye Lani Rae Rafko,
Miss America 1988 (born in
Monroe)
- Terry Rakolta,
founder of Americans for Responsible Television (from
Bloomfield Hills)
- Greg Raymer, the
2004 World Series of Poker
champion (born in Minot, North Dakota
; raised in Lansing)
- Norman
Shumway, heart transplant pioneer (born in Kalamazoo)
- Anna Sui, fashion designer (born in
Detroit)
- Annie Taylor,
the first person to go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel (born in
Bay
City)
- R.J. Thomas, labor
leader (born in East Palestine, Ohio
; moved to Detroit in his early
20s)
- Veronica Webb, model, Revlon
spokesperson (born in Detroit)
- Myra Wolfgang,
labor leader (born in Montreal, Quebec
, moved to Detroit at three and
raised there)
See also
Notes
References and further reading
External links
)
used to make architectural tiles.
)
)
rationalist
philosopher (born in Fredericksburg, Ohio
; raised in Bay View
)
)
philosopher of existentialism and phenomenology (born in
Saginaw
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search