List of people from Palo Alto

This is a list of notable people from Palo Alto, California. It includes people who were born/raised in, lived in, or spent portions of their lives in Palo Alto, or for whom Palo Alto is a significant part of their identity.

Actors

Visual arts Fine artists

Designers

Business leaders and entrepreneurs

Musicians Christine Abraham, opera singer and voice teacher; grew up in Palo Alto William Ackerman, acoustic guitarist, founded influential New Age record label Windham Hill Records Joan Baez, folk singer, went to school in Palo Alto, now resides in Woodside, California Lindsey Buckingham, musician, singer, songwriter, and producer, best known as lead guitarist and one of the vocalists of the musical group Fleetwood Mac, born and raised in Palo Alto Doug Clifford, drummer of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Palo Alto native The Donnas, rock group, met while growing up in Palo Alto; graduated from Palo Alto High in 1997 The Grateful Dead, rock "jam" band; early incarnations of the band were based in Palo Alto Jerry Garcia (1942–1995), founding member of the Grateful Dead; moved to Palo Alto in the 1960s Bill Kreutzmann (born 1946), founding member and drummer of the Grateful Dead; born and raised in Palo Alto Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (1945–1973), founding member of the Grateful Dead; moved to Palo Alto as a teenager; buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park Stephan Jenkins, rock musician with Third Eye Blind and Gunn High School alumnus (1983) The Kingston Trio, folk group, formed in Palo Alto while its members were enrolled at Stanford University and nearby Menlo College Rick Nowels, pop music record producer and songwriter Virginia Seay, composer and musicologist, born in Palo Alto in 1922 Matt Simons, singer-songwriter, born and raised in Palo Alto; graduated from Gunn High School in 2005 Grace Slick, singer with the rock group Jefferson Airplane, later known as Jefferson Starship Molly Tuttle, singer-songwriter, banjo player, guitarist, recording artist, and teacher in the bluegrass tradition, raised in Palo Alto and attended Palo Alto High School Ugly Kid Joe, rock band; members Whitfield Crane and Klaus Eichstadt grew up in Palo Alto, as did producer Eric Valentine Remi Wolf, indie pop singer-songwriter, born and raised in Palo Alto; graduated from Palo Alto High School in 2014

Politicians, political figures and civil servants Robert Bell, Virginia State Delegate, born in Palo Alto Ron Christie, former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney and political pundit Jerry Daniels, CIA officer in Laos during the Vietnam WarMorrison, Gayle L. (2013), Hog's Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA, Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press. Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States; starting in 1916, maintained a home in Palo Alto Jon Huntsman, Jr., former governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China Merrill Newman (born 1928), Palo Alto Channing House resident, former U.S. Army officer, and Korean War veteran, noted for his 2013 arrest in North Korea Guy H. Preston, U.S. Army brigadier general JB Pritzker, governor of Illinois and member of the Pritzker family Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state Thomas T. Riley, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco Manabendra Nath Roy, Indian nationalist and revolutionarySibnarayan Ray, In Freedom's Quest: Life of M.N. Roy (Vol. 1: 1887–1922). Calcutta: Minerva Associates, 1998; pp. 46–47. Byron Sher (1928–2026), served in the California State Senate 1996–2004, and California State Assembly 1980–1996; professor emeritus at Stanford Law School Sarah Wallis (1825–1905), first president of the California Woman Suffrage Educational Association Ron Wyden, U.S. senator

Religion John Duryea, former Palo Alto Catholic priest excommunicated by the church in the 1970s Gerrit W. Gong, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), raised in Palo Alto Indradyumna Swami (formerly Brian Tibbitts), ISKCON Guru and a sannyasi for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, born and raised in Palo Alto

Scientists Richard R. Ernst, Nobel laureate in chemistry, worked at Varian Associates in Palo Alto Gene F. Franklin, control engineer and NASA scientist Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, author, and college professor; attended Cubberly High School and built an atom smasher in his parents' garage Brian Kobilka, Nobel laureate in chemistry, lives in Palo Alto Arthur Kornberg (1918–2007), Nobel prize-winning biochemist Pamela Melroy, astronaut and second woman to command a space shuttle mission Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017), Iranian mathematician and professor of mathematics at Stanford University James G. Moore (born 1930), geologist, born in Palo Alto Ida Shepard Oldroyd, conchologist and curator (1856–1940) Perley Ason Ross, physicist who worked on essential problems in the behavior of X-rays William Shockley, Nobel laureate in physics and eugenicist Robert Spinrad (1932–2009), computer pioneer as director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research CenterMarkoff, John. Robert Spinrad, a Pioneer in Computing, Dies at 77", The New York Times, September 6, 2009. Accessed September 9, 2009. Sidney Dean Townley, astronomer, geodeticist, and Stanford University professor emeritus

Writers

Athletes

Davante Adams, NFL wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders, East Palo Alto resident and Palo Alto High School graduate Harris Barton (born 1964), All Pro NFL offensive lineman Matt Biondi (born 1965), swimmer and winner of 11 Olympic medals (8 gold), born in Palo Alto Hunter Bishop (born 1998), baseball player Paul Blanchette (born 1994), soccer player Nick Bravin (born 1971), Olympic fencer Sebastian DeFrancesco, paralympic athlete and table tennis player Jim Harbaugh, former football player and current head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1982 Tony Hargain, NFL player Phil Hellmuth, professional poker player, holds a record 16 WSOP bracelets with total earnings of more than $25 million to date Katie Hoff, Olympic swimmer, Palo Alto native Adam Juratovac, professional football player and Arena Bowl XXIII champion alumnus of Gunn High School Dana Kirk, Olympic swimmer, coaches for Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics Tara Kirk, Olympic swimmer, swam with Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics; American record holder in 100 and breaststroke Hilary Knight, PHWL ice hockey player, 1-time Olympic gold medal winner, 9-time Women's World Championships winner Trajan Langdon, basketball executive and former player Francie Larrieu-Smith, long-distance runner and first female athlete to make five Olympic teams, born in Palo Alto Jeremy Lin (born 1988), basketball player, formerly for the NBA's Toronto Raptors, alumnus of Palo Alto High School Jim Loscutoff, basketball player who won seven NBA championships with the Boston Celtics Don MacLean, UCLA and NBA basketball player Bob Melvin (born 1961), Major League Baseball player and manager of the San Francisco Giants Joc Pederson (born 1992), baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks Dan Petry, pitcher for 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers, born in Palo Alto Tim Rossovich, professional football player Dave Schultz, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion in freestyle wrestling, subject of film Foxcatcher Mark Schultz, Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Champion in freestyle wrestling, subject of film Foxcatcher Nolan Siegel, IndyCar driver Pop Warner, early football player and head coach of eight colleges including Stanford University (1924–1932), lived and died in Palo Alto Charles Wright, professional wrestler, formerly worked for WWE as Papa Shango and The Godfather Steve Young, former professional football player for the San Francisco 49ers and NFL Hall of Famer Vincent Zhou, figure skater, attended the 2018 Winter Olympics

List of people from Palo Alto

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