This is a list of people who were born in, lived in, or are closely associated with the city of Reading, Pennsylvania.
Athletics Gus Alberts (1861–1912), Major League Baseball player Elvin Ayala (b. 1981), professional boxer, World Boxing Council and U.S. National Boxing Council middleweight champion Allison Baver (b. 1980), professional speed skater George Bradley (1852–1931), Major League Baseball player Kenny Brightbill (b. 1948), race car driver James Bryant (b. 1985), professional football player Austin DeSanto (b. 1998), wrestler Carl Furillo (1922–1989), Major League Baseball outfielder Corey Hertzog (b. 1990), professional soccer player Alice Hoover (1928–2014), All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player Travis Kauffman (b. 1985), WBF Inter-Continental heavyweight boxing champion and ranked contender Betsy King (b.1955), golfer, winner of 34 LPGA Tour events and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame Whitey Kurowski (1918–1999), All-Star infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals Henry Larkin (1860–1942), Major League Baseball player Julian Letterlough (1969–2005), light heavyweight boxing champion Steve Little (1965–2000), WBA world middleweight boxing champion Donyell Marshall (b. 1973), basketball player, Connecticut and NBA power forward Julio Cesar Matthews (b. 1970), Golden Gloves champion and unbeaten professional cruiserweight boxer Lenny Moore (b. 1933), NFL running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Kevin Ross (b. 1980), former Bellator Kickboxing featherweight champion Denise Rutkowski (b. 1962), professional female bodybuilder Melanie Skillman (b. 1954), Olympic archer Samuel Van Leer (1747–1825), ironmaster and captain in the American Revolutionary War Charlie Wagner (1912–2006), baseball player for Boston Red Sox Lonnie Walker IV (b. 1998), professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv, previously the Brooklyn Nets
Arts & entertainment Coit Albertson (1880–1953), silent film actor Peter Brocco (1903–1992), actor Harry Buckwalter (1867–1930), photographer, journalist, film director and producer Dorothy Christy (1906–1977), actress Jack Coggins (1911–2006), artist and author Kayla Collins (b. 1987), model and Playboy Playmate (August 2008) Forrest Compton (1925–2020), actor Michael Constantine (1927–2021), actor Tullio DeSantis (b. 1948), artist, writer, professor Lisa Eichhorn (b. 1952), actress, writer, producer Meg Foster (b. 1948), actress Harry Whittier Frees (1879–1953), photographer Megan Gallagher (b. 1960), actress Frank Hovington (1919–1982), blues musician Mildred Jordan (1901–1982), novelist Chip Kidd (b. 1964), graphic designer and author A.S. King (b. 1970), author, winner of the LA Times Book Prize, Printz Award honoree Richie Kotzen (b. 1970), rock guitarist Rick Krebs (b. 1949), game designer Draya Michele (b. 1985), American social media personality, fashion designer, socialite, actress and model James Phyrillas (b. 1998), content creator on Schaffrillas Productions YouTube channel Mike Pilot (b. 1975), podcaster Mary Hiester Reid (1854-1921), Canadian painter and teacher David Robidoux, composer John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), iconic composer, died in Reading Ray Dennis Steckler (1938-2009), film director Jim Steranko (b. 1938), Silver Age comic book artist, magazine publisher and escape artist Wallace Stevens (1879–1955), poet Taylor Swift (b. 1989), singer-songwriter Chuck Thompson (1921–2005), sportscaster John Updike (1932–2009), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist Byron Vazakas (1905–1987), poet Angela Washko (b. 1986), artist Delores Wells (1937–2016), actress Richard "Dick" Wheeler (1922–2008), author and historian"Richard 'Dick' Wheeler" (obituary). Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Republican & Herald, October 27, 2008 (retrieved online via Legacy.com, August 24, 2019).Moskin, J. Robert. "To the Sound of Iwo Jima." Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post, December 18, 1983. Thomas C. Zimmerman (1838–1914), writer, translator of English language classics to Pennsylvania German dialect
Business Albert Boscov (1929–2017), chairman of Boscov's department store Mervin Heller Jr., past president of the United States Tennis Association Chad Hurley (b. 1977), co-founder and former CEO of YouTube Stu Jackson (b. 1955), executive vice president of basketball operations for the NBA Frederick Lauer (1810–1883), brewer, president of the United States Brewers' Association Thomas Usher, CEO of U.S. Steel and chairman of the Board of Marathon Oil Isaac Van Leer (1772–1821), iron works entrepreneur and owner of several nearby historical homes
Military, politics, & public service George Warren Alexander (1829–1903), US Army officer and founder of G.W. Alexander & Co., a hat factorySnyder, Laurie. Lieutenant Colonel George Warren ("G.W.") Alexander, in 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment's Story, retrieved online May 14, 2017. John Barrasso (b. 1952), U.S. senator from Wyoming Fay Biles (b. 1927), professor emerita of Kent State University Daniel Boone (1734–1820), frontiersman and leader of early settlements of Kentucky Sylvanus C. Breyfogel (1851–1934), bishop of Evangelical Association James Henry Carpenter (1846–1898), Civil War sailor, officer, founder of Carpenter Technology Corporation John Fetterman (b. 1969), U.S. senator from Pennsylvania David McMurtrie Gregg (1833–1916), American Civil War general Keith Haring (1958–1990), artist, activist William Muhlenberg Hiester (1818–1878), political and military leader Ed Kemmer (1921–2004), combat pilot and actor James H. Maurer (1864–1944), labor leader, three-term Pennsylvania House of Representatives member, and two-time vice presidential nominee Morton L. Montgomery (1846–1933), Pennsylvania attorney and historian Stephen Mull, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Political Ministry Affairs, U.S. ambassador to LithuaniaMr. Stephen D. Mull Nominated as New United States Ambassador to Lithuania: Biography James Nagle (1822–1866), Civil War general Curtis R. Reitz (b. 1929), Algernon Sydney Biddle Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School Matthias Richards (1758–1830), U.S. congressman William Sands (1835–1918), U.S. Medal of Honor winner (Civil War)"Sands, William", in "Medal of Honor Recipients: Civil War (S-Z):. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, retrieved online October 6, 2018. William Strong, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States J. Henry Stump (1880–1949), socialist mayor of Reading 1927–1931, 1935–1939 and 1943–1947
Other Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823–1887), naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist Ariel Castro, convicted rapist and kidnapper of three women in Cleveland Richard H. Ebright (b. 1956), molecular biologist Roy Frankhouser (1939–2009), Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan Hildegard Peplau (1909–1999), nurse theorist Lori and George Schappell (b. 1961), conjoined twins William Wiswesser (1914–1989), chemist and pioneer in chemical informatics
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