This list of Colby College alumni includes graduates, non-graduate former students, current students, and honorary degree recipients of Colby College. Colby, which was founded in 1813, has a total of more than 25,000 living alumni.
Academia
Educators Name Class Notability Reference 1840 President of the University of Rochester 1853–1888 1845 President of State Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) 1862–1885 1864 (transfer) founder of Storer College and Bluefield State College 1891 Professor of Mineralogy and Petrography at Johns Hopkins University1883President of Hampton University, and teacher 1884 Dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School, 1908–1933 1885 Semitic scholar and professor at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School 1890 President of Colby College, 1908–1927 1891 President of Colby College, 1929–1942 1897 Chair of the Department of English at Rutgers University 1911–1937 1919 Head of Biology Department University of Yangon, 1921–1941 Smithsonian Institution Archives, Acc. 96-111, Gates, G. E (Gordon Enoch) 1897-, Gordon Enoch Gates Papers, c. 1931-1979 1963 Author and professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University 1964 Director of the Center for Professional Development at Santa Clara University 1966 Professor of Biology at Thomas College 1968 President and professor of American Religion of Pacific School of Religion, 1996–2010 1975 Dean of Yale School of Management, dean of University of Chicago Booth School of Business 2001–2010 1987Harvard professor, pioneering physician in counter-terrorism medicine, White House consultant 1990 Professor of English at the University of Hawaii 1992 Assistant professor of English at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Research and scholarship Name Class Notability Reference ex-1860 Philosopher 1884 Scientist, marine biologist 1906 Author, congregational minister, and religious science leader 1914 Mathematician 1924 United States land policy historian and author 1964 Presidential scholar and historian; notable works include the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Ordinary Time (1995) and Team of Rivals (2005) 1964 Professor in Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland, College Park 1970 Maine State Historian 1977 Scholar in early Colonial America history and Pulitzer Prize winner 1986 Oceanographer
Arts and entertainment Name Class Notability Reference 1946 Painter Loring Buzzell 1948Music publisher and record label executive 1965 Musician 1969 Chair of the National Endowment for the ArtsKathy O'Dell1973Art historian, theorist, curator, arts advocate, author ex-1973 Country and bluegrass musician 1976 Founder of hip-hop record label Tommy Boy Entertainment 1976 Composer 1985 Cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Big Nate 1994 Host of Access Hollywood, former host of Let's Make a Deal and The Billy Bush Show 1996 Monologuist, solo performer and author
Athletics Name Class Notability Reference 1897 Head football coach at University of Akron, 1910–1914 1906 Two-time World Champion Major League Baseball player; manager (Philadelphia Phillies and Duke University) 1935 Medalist at the 1936 Winter Olympics in hockey 1958 Major League Baseball player for the Chicago Cubs 1966 Major League Baseball pitcher for the 1970 Boston Red Sox 1968 General manager of the Boston Celtics, 1984–1997 1970 Ethiopian athlete; competed at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics 1986 Assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2011–present 1981 Head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffins baseball team, 2005–present GoGriffs.com. Canisius Sports Information. Archived from the original on August 3, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013. 1993 Executive vice president and general manager, Baltimore Ravens 1993 Olympic rower, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004; World Rowing Championships medalist 1993 General manager of the Boston Red Sox 1994 Athletic director for Villanova University 1998 Hockey player for the Brampton Thunder and the United States women's national ice hockey team ex-2001 Olympic medalist on the United States women's national ice hockey team, 2002 and 2006 Warner Nickerson 2005 Alpine skier Dan Vassallo 2007 Distance runner
Business and finance Name Class Notability Reference 1836 Businessman and philanthropist 1869 Lawyer, banker, and newspaper publisher 1892 Businessman Alice Mason1945Manhattan real estate broker 1951 Owner of Sterilite 1954 Owner of Integrated Management Associates 1956 Former CEO of the VF Corporation 1970 President of North Sails, 1992–present 1973 Former chief executive officer of Barclays Bank, Plc. Edson Mitchell 1975 Director, Deutsche Bank 1979 President and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 1981 President and chief executive officer of the National Restaurant Association 1981 Chief executive officer of the Forbes Media 1991 Co-founder of The Glover Park GroupMira Murati 2011CTO and former interim CEO of OpenAI
Literature Name Class Notability Reference c.1900 Historian and author About William H. Rowe School – William H. Rowe School official website 1937 Religious author and ad-man 1940 Novelist 1949 Author of the series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 1954 Author of the Spenser detective novels 1955 Humorist ex-1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain 1968 Novelist and screenwriter 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Jackson Pollock: An American Saga 1970sPoet and writer 1977 Novelist, Anne Frank and Me; screen/TV writer, The Young and the Restless 1977 Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize-winning author and historian specializing in early American history 1978 Author and 2007 Guggenheim Fellow 1980 Short story writer 1983 Author of Hungry Ocean (captain of the Hannah Boden, sister ship to the Andrea Gail which went down in the "Perfect Storm" 1991) 1991 Author and journalist 1992 Novelist, creator of Gossip Girl series 1993 Novelist, best known for The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole 1996 Bram Stoker Award-winning novelist 1998 Writer for Deadspin and GQ magazine; author of The Postmortal and Someone Could Get Hurt 1999 Novelist and essayist, co-founder of The Morning News 2000 Science fiction author and co-founder of Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
Media Name Class Notability Reference 1898 Editor-in-chief of The Saturday Evening Post 1937 Correspondent for the Associated Press 1939 Editorial writer for The New York Herald Tribune, 1951 Nieman Fellow 1969 1979 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting 1970 Editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, CNN political analyst, and syndicated columnist 1970 Investigative journalist and bestselling author 1971 1992 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting 1988 Film actor and director 1991 Oscar winner, 2013 Best Documentary Short Subject 1991 Political director of ABC News, former house editor for the Cook Political Report, editor in chief of The Hotline 1993 ABC News anchor and reporter 1994 TV personality and nephew of President George H. W. Bush 1995 Journalist for Time magazine 1995 Washington DC news reporter 2000 2012 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
Politics and government
Members of the United States Congress Name Class Notability Reference ex-1827 U.S. representative from Maine 1837–1840 ex-1830 U.S. senator from Missouri 1870–1871 1831 U.S. representative from New York 1849–1853, 1863–1866, 1867–1873 1831 U.S. senator from Maine 1848, Maine attorney general 1844–1847 1836 U.S. representative from Maine, 1847–1849 1838 U.S. representative from Massachusetts 1867–1875, 1877–1879, Civil War general, 33rd governor of Massachusetts 1839 U.S. representative from Maine, 1861 1843 U.S. representative from Alabama, 1868–1869 1849 U.S. representative from Minnesota 1871–1883, 1889–1891 ex-1852 U.S. representative from Maine 1883–1897 1855 U.S. representative from Maine 1881–1899, 34th governor of Maine 1874–1876 1859 U.S. representative from Alabama 1869–1871, U.S. ambassador to Japan, 1897–1902 1862 U.S. representative from New York 1895–1899, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica 1891–1893 1880 U.S. representative from Maine, 1913 1883 U.S. representative from Maine, 1911–1917 1898 U.S. representative from Maine, 1921–1933 1902 U.S. representative from Massachusetts, 1943–1955 1928 U.S. representative from Maine, 1949–1957 1929 U.S. representative from New Hampshire, 1943–1963 1935 U.S. senator from Florida (1969–1974)
United States federal and state court judges Name Class Notability Reference 1863 Maine Superior Court judge, 1878–1906 1875 Chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 1917–1925 1882 Mayor of Waterville 1899–1900, Maine attorney general, 1909–1910, justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 1913–1928 1895 Federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts 1903 Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 1945–1949 1968 Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, 2009–present 1974 Circuit court judge and member of the Virginia House of Delegates
United States governors
Name Class Notability Reference ex-1829 31st governor of Maine, 1864–1867 ex-1857 46th governor of New Hampshire 1897–1899 1853 Governor of Maine 1881–1883 ex-1861 Governor of Maine 1901–1908 1863 Governor of Florida 1874–1877 ex-1965 Governor of Maine 2019–present
Other political and legal figures