Mercer University is a private, coeducational university in Macon, Georgia, founded in 1833.

Mercer is the only university of its size in the United States that offers programs in eleven diverse fields of study: liberal arts, business, education, music, engineering, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, law, theology, and continuing and professional studies. Mercer enrolls approximately 8,300 students in its eleven colleges and schools.

Alumni This is a list of notable Mercer alumni and employees.

Arts, education, media, and industry

Tom Abbott – broadcaster with Golf Channel and NBC Sports Gregg Allman – musician, received an honorary degree in 2016 Steve Berry – author of six novels, including several New York Times bestsellers David Bottoms – Georgia Poet Laureate, 2000–2012 James C. Coomer – political scientist and author Luis Eduardo Díaz Granados – businessman Harry Stillwell Edwards – former editor, Macon Telegraph; author of 19 books, including the Southern classic Eneas Africanus Erick Erickson – political contributor for John King, USA on CNN Nancy Grace – legal commentator and guest host for Larry King Live; hosted her own show, Nancy Grace on CNN Keitaro Harada – opera and orchestra conductor Rufus Carrollton Harris – president, Tulane University, 1939–1960; president, Mercer University, 1960–1979, co-author of the GI Bill Malcolm Johnson – Pulitzer Prize-winning author (1949); his reports were the basis for On the Waterfront Anne B. Kerr – president, Florida Southern College William Heard Kilpatrick – career educator; first president of the Bennington College board of trustees, 1931–1938 Bruce D. McDonald III – university professor, North Carolina State University Reg Murphy – former president and vice chairman, National Geographic Society; publisher, Baltimore Sun; editor and publisher, San Francisco Examiner; editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; author of Uncommon Sense: The Achievement of Griffin Bell William F. Ogburn – sociologist; former president of the American Sociological Society George P. Oslin – former Western Union executive; invented the singing telegram in 1933 Lyman Ray Patterson – law professor and copyright scholar; former dean, Emory University School of Law James Rachels – moral philosopher, university professor, and author; best known for his writing on euthanasia Adam Ragusea – popular food YouTuber and former journalism professor at Mercer University Ed Roberts – designed the first commercially successful personal computer in 1975; known as "the father of the personal computer" Ferrol Sams – widely read Southern author, known for Run with the Horsemen and Whisper of the River Corbett H. Thigpen – psychiatrist; co-author of The Three Faces of Eve Ellis Paul Torrance – educator known for pioneering research in creativity; namesake of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development Phil Walden – music pioneer and founder of Capricorn Records; represented Otis Redding and The Allman Brothers

Law

For further alumni, see also: Walter F. George School of Law.

Griffin Bell – judge, United States Court of Appeals, 1962–1976; 72nd Attorney General of the United States, 1977–1979 William Augustus Bootle – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, 1954–2005; ordered the first admission of an African-American to the University of Georgia in 1961 G. Harrold Carswell – judge, Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida, 1958–1969; judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1969–1970; unsuccessful nominee to the United States Supreme Court, 1970 Barry Cohen – criminal defense attorney, 1966–2018 Linton McGee Collins – judge, United States Court of Claims, 1964–1972 Brainerd Currie – law professor; noted conflict of laws scholar who developed the characterisation concept of governmental interest analysis Thomas Hoyt Davis – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, 1945–1969 Beverly Daniel Evans, Jr. – Georgia Supreme Court justice, 1904–1917; federal district judge for the Southern District of Georgia, 1917–1922 Albert John Henderson – judge, United States Court of Appeals, 1979–1999; judge, Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1968–1979 Archibald Battle Lovett – judge, Federal District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, 1941–1945 Scott D. Makar – Florida Solicitor General Carlton Mobley – chief justice, Georgia Supreme Court, 1972–1974; associate justice, 1954–1972; United States representative, Georgia's 6th Congressional district, 1932–1933 Willie Louis Sands – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia; the first African-American to serve on the court Jay Sekulow – chief counsel, American Center for Law and Justice Marc T. Treadwell – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia L. Lin Wood – attorney and conspiracy theorist on President Donald Trump's legal team tasked with overturning the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election

Politics

U.S. senators Four Mercerians have served as United States senators, all from Georgia. Walter F. George – United States senator from Georgia, 1922–1957, served as president pro tempore, 1955–1957; namesake of Mercer's Law School Thomas W. Hardwick – United States senator from Georgia, 1915–1919; governor of Georgia, 1921–1923; as governor, appointed Rebecca L. Felton as the first female United States senator Thomas E. Watson – United States representative, Georgia's 10th Congressional district, 1891–1893; United States senator from Georgia, 1921–1922 William S. West – United States senator from Georgia, 1914–1914

Governors Eleven Mercerians have served as governors: six of Georgia, two of Alabama, and one each of New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Ellis Arnall – governor of Georgia, 1943–1947 Allen D. Candler – governor of Georgia, 1898–1902; United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1883–1891; namesake of Candler County, Georgia Nathan Deal – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1993–2010; served as governor of Georgia 2011–2019 Thomas W. Hardwick – United States senator from Georgia, 1915–1919; governor of Georgia, 1921–1923; as Governor, appointed Rebecca L. Felton as the first female United States senator Richard B. Hubbard – governor of Texas, 1876–1879; US ambassador to Japan, 1885–1889 William D. Jelks – governor of Alabama, 1901–1907 Henry Dickerson McDaniel – governor of Georgia, 1883–1886 William J. Northen – governor of Georgia, 1890–1894; president, Southern Baptist Convention, 1899–1901; served as a Mercer trustee for 44 years, 1869–1913 Chauncey Sparks – governor of Alabama, 1943–1947 Meldrim Thomson, Jr. – governor of New Hampshire, 1973–1979 Blanton Winship – governor of Puerto Rico (1934–1939)

U.S. representatives Twenty-one Mercerians have served as United States representatives; the most recent (as of 2021) was Scott Rigell of Virginia. Seventeen were from Georgia, three from Florida, and one from Virginia. Doug Barnard – United States representative, Georgia's 10th Congressional district, 1977–1993 Allen D. Candler – governor of Georgia, 1898–1902; United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1883–1891; namesake of Candler County, Georgia Edward E. Cox – United States representative, Georgia's 2nd Congressional district, 1925–1952 Martin J. Crawford – United States representative, Georgia's 2nd Congressional district, 1855–1861; representative to the Confederate Provisional Congress, 1861–1862; justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, 1880–1883 Nathan Deal – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1993–2010; served as governor of Georgia 2011–2019 Robert W. Everett – United States representative, Georgia's 7th Congressional district, 1891–1893 Phillip M. Landrum – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1953–1977 Thomas G. Lawson – United States representative, Georgia's 8th Congressional district, 1891–1897 Rufus E. Lester – United States representative, Georgia's 1st Congressional district, 1889–1906 Charles L. Moses – United States representative, Georgia's 4th Congressional district, 1891–1897 James W. Overstreet – United States representative, Georgia's 1st Congressional district, 1906–1907 and 1917–1923 Homer C. Parker – United States representative, Georgia's 1st Congressional district, 1931–1935 Scott Rigell – United States representative, Virginia's 2nd Congressional district, 2011–2017 Seaborn Roddenbery – United States representative, Georgia's 2nd Congressional district, 1910–1913 Dwight L. Rogers – United States representative, Florida's 6th Congressional district, 1945–1954 William J. Sears – United States representative, Florida's 4th Congressional district, 1915–1929; United States representative, an at-large Florida district, 1933–1937 Malcolm C. Tarver – United States representative, Georgia's 7th Congressional district, 1927–1947 Carl Vinson – United States representative for over 50 years, 1914–1965; long-time chairman, House Armed Services Committee; has been called the "patriarch of the armed services" and the "father of the two-ocean navy"; namesake of the Thomas E. Watson – United States representative, Georgia's 10th Congressional district, 1891–1893; United States senator from Georgia, 1921–1922 J. Mark Wilcox – United States representative, Florida's 4th Congressional district, 1933–1939 John S. Wood – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1931–1935 and 1945–1953; chairman, House Un-American Activities Committee, 1949–1953

Other Brad Bryant – superintendent of the Georgia public schools, one of Georgia's eight statewide executive officials, 2010–2011 Cathy Cox – Georgia secretary of state, 1999–2007; first woman elected to this position Luis Eduardo Díaz Granados – Colombian representative Walter C. Dowling – United States ambassador to South Korea, 1956–1959; United States ambassador to Germany, 1959–1963 Winfred Dukes – Georgia state representative Bobby Harshbarger – Tennessee state senator (2025-present) John Oxendine – Georgia insurance commissioner, 1995–2011 John Peyton – mayor, Jacksonville, Florida, the most populous city in Florida and the thirteenth most populous in the United States, 2003–2011 William Usery Jr. – United States Secretary of Labor, 1976–1977 Julian Webb – member of the Georgia State Senate 1963–1974 and the Georgia Court of Appeals 1974–1979 Samuel J. Welsch – member of the Georgia House of Representatives, the Georgia State Senate, and mayor of Marietta, Georgia.

Military

John Birch – missionary, U.S. Army intelligence officer, and OSS agent in China during World War II; namesake of the John Birch Society Benjamin S. Griffin, general, U.S. Army – commanding general, U.S. Army Materiel Command, 2004–08 Richard E. Hawes, rear admiral, U.S. Navy – commanded several vessels during World War II; recipient of the Navy Cross; namesake of the USS Hawes Alexander T. Hawthorn, brigadier general, C.S. Army – commander, 4th Arkansas Infantry Brigade, 1863–65 Claude M. Kicklighter, lieutenant general, U.S. Army – commanding general, United States Army, Pacific, 1989–91; after military retirement, served in senior civilian positions in the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs; assistant secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs, 2001–05; inspector general, Department of Defense, 2007–08 George J. Walker, brigadier general, U.S. Army – assistant chief of staff for Intelligence, U.S. Army Forces Command, 1987–89; member, Military Intelligence Hall of Fame Perry L. Wiggins, lieutenant general, U.S. Army – commanding general, Fifth United States Army, 2013–present; commander, 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, 2008–09 Blanton Winship, major general, U.S. Army – Judge Advocate General (TJAG), 1931–33; governor of Puerto Rico, 1934–39

Science