This is a list of notable students, alumni, faculty or academic affiliates associated with Colgate University in the United States. As Colgate is an undergraduate school only, all the graduates listed below earned bachelor's degrees there.
Colgate alumni
The arts Charles Addams (1933), New Yorker cartoonist known for macabre drawings; creator of The Addams Family Ralph Arlyck (1962), documentary filmmaker who has won many awards at film festivals including Sundance and Cannes Ivy Austin (1979), television and radio actress (A Prairie Home Companion, Sesame Street) Ken Baker (1992), E! chief news correspondent, author Bob Balaban, television and movie actor Joe Berlinger (1983), producer (Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2; documentary Brother's Keeper) Edgar Peters Bowron (1965), art historian Lin Brehmer (1976), disc jockey and radio personality at WXRT in Chicago Broken Lizard, comedy troupe (Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest) Steven Cantor (1990), director and producer (DANCER, Chasing Tyson, What Remains, Between Me and My Mind) Jay Chandrasekhar (1991), director (Super Troopers, Arrested Development, Club Dread, The Babymakers) Rex Cherryman (1916), actor of the stage and screen, most prolific during the 1920s Alison Fields (2001), art historian Jonathan Glatzer (1991), television writer (Bloodline, Better Call Saul, Succession) Ted Griffin (1993), film writer (Ocean's Eleven, Matchstick Men) Kevin Heffernan (1990), actor and comedian (Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest) Lisa Heller (2018), alternative pop artist and songwriter James D. Hornfischer (1987), literary agent John J.A. Jannone (1991), composer, animator, film producer (Small Time), founder of Performance and Interactive Media Arts MFA program at Brooklyn College Barnet Kellman (1969), producer and director of film and television (Murphy Brown, Mad About You) and multiple Emmy and DGA Award winner R. J. Kern (2000), artist and photographer Steve Lemme (1991), actor, comedian (Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest) Poppy Liu (2013), actress (Sunnyside and Hacks), activist and poet Brent Maddock (1972), screenwriter (Short Circuit, Tremors) Paul Mariani, poet, professor at Boston College Johnny Marks (1931), composer of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" Chris Paine (1983), documentary filmmaker (Who Killed the Electric Car?) Martin Ransohoff (1949), founder and chief executive officer of Filmways John Romano (1970), screenwriter and television writer and producer Peter Rowan, bluegrass musician, songwriter ("Panama Red") David Rosengarten, chef, author and host of the Food Network show Taste Todd Rosenthal (1989), Tony Award-winning scenic designer Rachel Scott, fashion designer Jeffrey Sharp (1989), producer (Boys Don't Cry, You Can Count On Me, Proof) Paul Soter (1991), actor and comedian (Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest) Erik Stolhanske (1991), actor and comedian (Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest) Gillian Vigman (1994), actor and comedian (Sons and Daughters, MADtv) Mel Watkins (1962), writer, editor, social commentator Francesca Zambello (1978), director of the Glimmerglass Opera and the Washington National Opera
Business John Acropolis (1909–1952), labor leader Warren Anderson (1942), former CEO of Union Carbide Jonathan Michael Ansell (1972), current CEO of Fusion Company J. Darius Bikoff (1983), creator, Energy Brands, Inc, makers of Glaceau, vitaminwater, and Glaceau smartwater Lawrence Bossidy (1957), chairman, CEO, Honeywell International; former CEO, AlliedSignal Inc. Bruce Buck (1967), partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Chairman, Chelsea Football Club Steve Burke (1980), president and CEO, NBCUniversal; former COO, Comcast Chase Carey (1976), vice chairman of the 21st Century Fox media conglomerate and the Chairman of the Formula One Group Ben Cohen (1973), co-founder and president, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (did not graduate) John C. Cushman III (1963), founder of Cushman Realty Corporation; CEO and chairman of global transactions, Cushman & Wakefield Carmine Di Sibio (1985), global chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young Mark Divine (1985), founder of SEALFIT and former United States Navy SEAL Robert Duffy (1962), former owner, Duffy Broadcasting Cyrus Eaton (1941), chairman, Eaton Corp. David Fialkow (1981), co-founder, General Catalyst Partners Robert Kindler (1976), vice chairman and global head of mergers and acquisitions, Morgan Stanley William Brian Little (1964), founding partner of Forstmann Little & Company, namesake of Little Hall at Colgate University Jim Manzi (1973), former CEO, Lotus Development Corp. Raymond W. McDaniel Jr. (1980), CEO, Moody's Corporation which operates Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investor Services Duncan L. Niederauer (1981), former CEO, NYSE Euronext Jack Shafer (1966), former division president, Allied Domecq (Dunkin Donuts, Baskin-Robbins) Bill Winters (1983) (CBE), current CEO, Standard Chartered; former co-head of investment banking, JPMorgan Chase
Culture Peter Ackerman (1968), founding chair of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict Jack L. Anson (1948), leader in the American college interfraternity movement; known as "Mr. Fraternity" Thomas J. Pilgrim, in 1829, founded the first school in Texas, an all-boys school called the "Austin Academy" Justus H. Rathbone, founder of the international fraternal order of the Knights of Pythias Tim Walsh (1987), inventor of the game TriBond Armand Zildjian (1944), former CEO of the Avedis Zildjian Company, the maker of cymbals, started in 1623 in Istanbul
Education Alida Anderson (1991), widely published academic researcher, author and professor of education at American University Jack L. Anson (1948), former executive director, North American Interfraternity Conference Shepard B. Clough (1923), professor of European history at Columbia University Andrew Dolkart (1973), James Marston Fitch Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University Emil Frei (1944), physician, oncologist and the Richard and Susan Smith Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School Hall Gardner (1976), professor of International Politics at the American University of Paris Charles A S Hall (1965), professor at State University of New York in the College of Environmental Science & Forestry A. Thomas McLellan, psychiatry professor at the University of Pennsylvania Charles Franklin Phillips (1931), economics professor at Colgate, President of Bates College Kevin M. Ross (1994), president of Lynn University William J. Simmons (1868), the second president of the eponymous Simmons College of Kentucky Herbert Storing (1950), Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia Ken Hoyte (2002), - Associate Provost and Assistant Vice President (former Dean, former Director of the Center for Cognitive Development Medgar Evers College - City University of New York
Government and politics William M. Anderson (1937), New York state senator 1953–1989 Doug Bailey (1954), founder of The Hotline Daniel P. Baldwin (?), Indiana attorney general, 1880–1882 Edward D. Banta (1986), United States Marine Corps lieutenant general (three star), deputy commandant for Installations and Logistics since 2021 Peter Burleigh (1963), U.S. ambassador to India (acting), 2011–2012 Kristie Canegallo (2001), White House deputy chief of staff for Policy Implementation, 2014–2017 Paul Carey (1986), appointed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner by President William Jefferson Clinton, confirmed by US Senate in 1997, formerly special assistant to the president for Legislative Affairs at the White House James M. Catterson (1980), associate justice, Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Judicial Department, 2004–2012 James Colgate Cleveland (1942), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district, 1963–1981 E. Virgil Conway (1951), former chairman and CEO, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 1995–2001 James Courter (1963), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 12th congressional district, 1983–1991 John Dean, White House counsel, 1970–1973, during the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon, witness to the Watergate scandal Antonio Delgado (1999), U.S. congressman, New York, 2019–2022. lieutenant governor of New York 2022–present Kathleen A. Doherty (1985), first female U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, 2015–2019 John Durham (1972), U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, 2018–present Perry B. Duryea Jr. (1942), speaker of the New York State Assembly, 1969–1974 Henry D. Edelman (1970), first president and chief executive officer of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Peter Feldman (2004), commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Louis Frey (1955), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 9th congressional district, 1973–1979 Dario Frommer (1974), majority leader of the California State Assembly, 2004–2006 Alan Frumin (1968), parliamentarian of the United States Senate, 2001–2012 Drew Gattine (1983), member of the Maine House of Representatives, 2018–present Edward M. Grout (1861–1931), lawyer and New York City comptroller James Howard Holmes (1965), U.S. ambassador to Latvia, 1998–2001 Charles Evans Hughes (attended), chief justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 1930–1941 Gary A. Lee (1960), member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 33rd congressional district, 1979–1983 Richard Harrington Levet (1916), judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1956–1976 Patricia A. McInerney, judge, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, 1996–2018 Monique Mehta, humanitarian and political activist Thomas R. Morgan (1952), USMC general, assistant commandant of the United States Marine Corps, 1986–1988 Darryl Nirenberg, U.S. ambassador to Romania Harlow S. Orton (1837), member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court 1878–1895, author of Vosburg v. Putney Sarah Peake (1979), member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 4th Barnstable district Peter N. Perretti Jr. (1953), attorney general of New Jersey 1989–1990 Peter Peyser (1943), former U.S. congressman 1971–1977, 1979–1983 Adam Clayton Powell (1930), New York congressman and civil rights leader William P. Rogers (1934), United States secretary of state, United States attorney general Mary Gay Scanlon (1980), U.S. congresswoman, Pennsylvania 2019–present Richard B. Spencer (1997), alt-right leader and white nationalist (transferred to the University of Virginia) Peter Tarnoff (1958), undersecretary of state, United States Department of State Dean P. Taylor (1925), U.S. congressman, New York 1943–1961 Donald S. Taylor (1919), judge, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Div. 1948–1968 Claudia Tenney (1983), U.S. congresswoman, New York 2017–2019, 2021–2023 (NY-22) 2023–present (NY-24) Ralph W. Thomas (1883), New York State senator 1910–1914 Gary Trauner (1980), politician from Wyoming Dennis Vacco (1974), 62nd New York State attorney general Martha M. Walz (1983), Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Perry Warren (1984), member, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 2017–present F. Clifton White (1940), political consultant, best remembered as the moving force behind the Draft Goldwater Committee Elizabeth A. Wolford (1989), United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York
Journalism Jack Belden (1932), war correspondent, Life, Time, author, China Shakes the World Gloria Borger (1974), CNN, U.S. News & World Report, Washington Week, CBS special correspondent Monica Crowley (1990), Richard Nixon biographer; political and international affairs analyst, Fox Thomas A. Dine (1962), president, Radio Free Europe