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List of people from Montclair, New Jersey facts for kids

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See also: List of Montclair State University notable people
See also (related category): People from Montclair, New Jersey

Notable people who were born in or have been residents of Montclair, New Jersey, include:

Academics and science

  • Mark C. Alexander, law professor at Seton Hall University
  • Buzz Aldrin (born 1930), astronaut, who was the second man to walk on the Moon
  • Virginia Lee Block (1902–1970), psychologist who contributed to studies regarding child and adolescent psychology
  • Stella Stevens Bradford (1871–1959), doctor, specialist in tuberculosis and physical rehabilitation
  • H. Bruce Franklin (born 1934), author and historian who was expelled from his Stanford University professorship for involvement in a leftist group
  • Tom Galligan (born 1955), lawyer, legal scholar, administrator, and educator who is currently the dean and professor of law of Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center
  • Dean Hamer (born 1952), scientist, author, and filmmaker who discovered a link between sexual orientation and Xq28
  • Jordan Harrod (born 1996), research scientist and YouTuber who works on neuroengineering, brain-machine interfaces, and machine learning for medicine
  • George Rice Hovey (1860–1943), university president, professor, minister, and author who served as the President of Virginia Union University from 1904 to 1918
  • John A. Kenney Jr. (1914–2003), pioneering African-American dermatologist who specialized in the study of skin disorders affecting racial minorities, earning him recognition as the "dean of black dermatology"
  • Joshua Lederberg (1925–2008), geneticist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in bacterial genetics; born in Montclair
  • Ronald T. Raines (born 1958), chemical biologist and expert on the chemistry and biology of proteins
  • Kenneth B. Smith (1931–2008), President of the Board of Education of the Chicago Public Schools who also served as President of the Chicago Theological Seminary
  • Dr. Leo Sternbach (1908–2005), chemist, invented precursor to Valium
  • Bruce Wands (1949–2022), educator, author, artist, and musician, with a specific interest in digital art
  • Edward Weston (1850–1936), electrical engineer and inventor whose Weston Electrical Instrument Company won the contract to illuminate the Brooklyn Bridge

Arts

Authors, journalists, and publishers

Frank Bunker Gilbreth ca1916
Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr.
  • Virginia Hamilton Adair (1913–2004), poet
  • Jonathan Alter (born 1957), Newsweek magazine journalist
  • Wheeler Antabanez (born 1977), author who has written for Weird NJ
  • Mary Travis Arny (1909–1997), author, naturalist, historian, and educator
  • Zain Asher (born 1983), news anchor at CNN International,who anchors the network's primetime, global news show One World with Zain Asher
  • Jim Axelrod (born 1963), national correspondent for CBS News; reporter for the CBS Evening News
  • Eric Boehlert (1965–2022), journalist, author, frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, and contributing editor to Rolling Stone
  • David Carr (1956–2015), media and culture columnist for The New York Times
  • Wendy Coakley-Thompson (born 1966), author of the novel Back to Life
  • Fleur Cowles (1908–2009), painter, journalist, hostess, socialite, and founder of Flair magazine; claimed to have been born in Montclair but records from the United States Census Bureau indicate that she was born in New York City
  • Oliver Crane (1822–1896), Presbyterian clergy, Oriental scholar, and writer
  • Anthony DePalma (born 1952), author, journalist, and educator who was a foreign correspondent and reporter for The New York Times
  • Louise DeSalvo (1942–2018), author
  • Christopher Durang (born 1949), contemporary playwright
  • Edward S. Ellis (1840–1916), teacher, school administrator, journalist; author of hundreds of publications under his name and many pseudonyms
  • Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882–1961), novelist, poet, literary critic for The Crisis; later teacher
  • Philip L. Fradkin (1935–2012), environmentalist, historian, journalist, and author who wrote about topics including water conservation, earthquakes, and nuclear weapons
  • Dorothea Benton Frank (1951–2019), novelist
  • Ian Frazier (born 1951), writer, humorist, and essayist
  • Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr. (1868–1924) and Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878–1972), and their twelve children, featured in the autobiography Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.
  • Bob Herbert (born 1945), syndicated op-ed columnist for The New York Times
  • Coleman Hughes (born 1996), author, political commentator and jazz musician
  • Ken Johnson (born 1953), art critic for The New York Times
  • Jon Katz (born 1947), author
  • Peter King (born 1957), journalist and Sports Illustrated senior writer
  • Michael Laser (born 1954), author
  • Donna Leon (born 1942), novelist
  • Arthur Levine (born 1962), editor, author and publisher of children's books, including the American editions of the Harry Potter series
  • Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation and senior vice president at Knopf Doubleday
  • Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011), prolific writer of fantasy and science fiction best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series
  • Susan Meddaugh, author of the Martha Speaks series of children's books, whose first home in Montclair was 33 Fairfield Street, where Martha the talking dog "lives" now
  • Gil Noble (1932–2012), American television reporter and interviewer
  • Isabel Paterson (1886–1961), journalist, novelist, political philosopher, author of The God of the Machine
  • Julia Phillips (born 1989), author whose book Disappearing Earth was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction
  • Jodi Rudoren (born 1970), journalist and editor of The Forward
  • Pamela Redmond Satran (born 1953), author
  • Andrew Rosenthal (born 1956), editorial page editor of The New York Times and son of the paper's former executive editor A.M. Rosenthal
  • Roger Sedarat, poet, scholar and literary translator
  • Florence Guy Woolston Seabury (1881–1951), feminist essayist
  • Lee Siegel (born 1957), writer and cultural critic
  • Richard Wesley (born 1945), screenwriter and playwright
  • Valerie Wilson Wesley (born 1947), mystery writer
  • Jana Winter, Fox News Channel reporter

Fashion

  • Bobbi Brown (born 1957), makeup artist
  • Lisa Lindahl (born 1948), writer, artist, activist and inventor.
  • Jack McCollough (born 1978), fashion designer; co-creator of Proenza Schouler
  • Polly Smith (born 1949), designer, inventor and creator of the sports bra, who was a costume designer for The Muppet Show and Sesame Street.
  • Louise Vyent, Dutch-born fashion model and portrait photographer

Fictional characters

  • Paul Kinsey, on Mad Men
  • Millicent Kent, in David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest
  • Office of Jennifer Melfi, on The Sopranos
  • Marnie Michaels, on Girls

Fine arts

  • Thomas Ball (1819–1911), sculptor
  • Nanette Carter (born 1954), artist and college educator, best known for her collages with paper, canvas and Mylar
  • Jane White Cooke (1913–2011), portrait painter
  • William Couper (1853–1942), sculptor
  • Edna Eicke (1919–1979), illustrator
  • Harry Fenn (1845–1911), English-born illustrator, primarily of landscapes
  • Lola Flash (born 1959), photographer known for her genderqueer visual political work
  • Russ Heath (1926–2018), cartoonist best known for his comic book work with DC Comics
  • John Langley Howard (1902–1999), muralist, printmaker and illustrator, known for his social realism
  • George Inness (1825–1894), landscape painter
  • Elizabeth Jones (born 1935), Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, holding this position from 1981 until her resignation in 1991
  • Joe McNally (born 1952), photographer
  • Dorothy Canning Miller (1904–2003), art curator
  • Tom Nussbaum (born 1953), sculptor and visual artist
  • Michael Yamashita (born 1949), photographer known for his work in National Geographic and his multiple books of photographs

Movies, stage, and television

  • Charles S. Belden (1904–1954), screenwriter and journalist, known for writing screenplays to several Charlie Chan films in the 1930s
  • Richard E. Besser (born 1959), former acting director of Centers for Disease Control; former Senior Health and Medical Editor at ABC News
  • John Block (born 1951), documentary filmmaker
  • Elaine Bromka (born 1950), actress who co-wrote the play Lady Bird, Pat & Betty: Tea for Three
  • Jacqueline Brookes (1930–2013), film, television, and stage actress, best known for her work both off-Broadway and on Broadway
  • Richard Burgi (born 1958), actor
  • John Callahan (1953–2020), actor, Falcon Crest, Santa Barbara, All My Children, Days of Our Lives
  • Stephen Colbert (born 1964), television personality, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
  • Margaret Colin (born 1957), actress, Gossip Girl, The Edge of Night, Something Wild, Independence Day
  • Michael Colleary (born 1960), screenwriter and producer of Face/Off, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Firehouse Dog
  • R.J. Colleary (born 1957), television writer, producer, and playwright, Touched By An Angel, Harry and the Hendersons, Cannibals
  • Robert M. Colleary (1929–2012), Peabody and Emmy Award-winning comedy writer best known for his more than two decades as head writer on Captain Kangaroo
  • Kristen Connolly (born 1980), actress
  • Kahane Cooperman, documentary filmmaker and television director and producer, whose 2016 documentary Joe's Violin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject
  • Justin Deas (born 1948), actor
  • Dagmara Dominczyk (born 1976), actress
  • Olympia Dukakis (1931–2021), Academy Award-winning actress, Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias, Mr. Holland's Opus
  • Allen B. DuMont (1901–1965), television pioneer
  • Beth Ehlers (born 1968), actress on Guiding Light and All My Children
  • Frankie Faison (born 1949), actor, The Silence of the Lambs
  • Frank Field (1923–2023), meteorologist, former resident
  • Savion Glover (born 1974), tap dancer and choreographer
  • Peter Greene (born 1965), actor, Pulp Fiction, The Mask
  • Sterling Hayden (1916–1986), actor, Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather, The Asphalt Jungle, 9 to 5
  • Anthony Heald (born 1944), actor, The Silence of the Lambs, Boston Public
  • Shuler Hensley (born 1967), actor; won a Tony Award for Oklahoma!
  • Louis Jean Heydt (1903–1960), actor
  • Steve Hofstetter (born 1979), comedian and radio personality
  • Janet Hubert-Whitten (born 1956), television and Broadway actress
  • Whip Hubley, actor who appeared in Top Gun
  • Vincent Irizarry (born 1959), Emmy Award-winning actor who appeared on All My Children
  • The Amazing Kreskin (born 1935), paranormalist and TV personality
  • Eva La Rue (born 1966), actress, model, singer
  • Nicole Leach (born 1979), actress
  • Delroy Lindo (born 1952), actor nominated for Tony and SAG awards; Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules, Crooklyn, Gone in 60 Seconds, Malcolm X, More American Graffiti
  • Warren Littlefield (born 1952), President of NBC in the 1990s
  • Priscilla Lopez (born 1948), actress, singer, dancer, Maid in Manhattan
  • Tyler Mathisen (born 1957), writer, editor, co-host of CNBC's Power Lunch
  • John Miller (born 1959), journalist, author, former FBI and ABC News journalist, current CBS News Senior Correspondent and investigative reporter
  • Trevor Moore (1980–2021), comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer, The Whitest Kids U' Know
  • Joe Morton (born 1947), actor, Scandal
  • Raphaela Neihausen (born 1976), filmmaker and producer
  • Michael O'Leary (born 1958), actor who portrayed Dr. Fredrick "Rick" Bauer on Guiding Light
  • Roscoe Orman (born 1944), actor who portrayed Gordon Robinson on Sesame Street
  • Stacie Passon (born 1969), film director and screenwriter
  • Kal Penn (born 1977), actor, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. He was also a government employee
  • Todd Porter (born 1968), child/teen actor, Starstuff, Pinocchio's Christmas, Whiz Kids
  • Christina Ricci (born 1980), actress whose films include The Addams Family, Buffalo '66, Monster, Sleepy Hollow
  • Rosemary Rice (1925–2012), actress; played Katrin on Mama; voice-over artist and children's musician
  • Ben Rosenfield (born 1992), actor
  • Bruce Sinofsky (1956–2015), screenwriter, editor, producer and filmmaker, 2012 Academy Award nominee
  • Elaine Stewart (1930–2011), model and Hollywood actress of the 1950s, promoted as a "dark-haired Marilyn Monroe"
  • Sophia Takal, actress, writer and director
  • Michelle Thomas (1968–1998), actress who played Myra on Family Matters
  • Dallas Townsend (1919–1995), anchor for CBS World News Roundup
  • Adam Wade (1935–2022), singer, musician and actor, whose stint as host of the CBS game show Musical Chairs (1975) made him the first Black game show host in the United States
  • Jake Weary (born 1990), actor, As the World Turns
  • Mary Alice Williams (born 1949), television personality
  • Wendy Williams (born 1964), TV and radio personality, host of The Wendy Williams Show
  • Patrick Wilson (born 1973), actor, who has appeared in Watchmen, The A-Team and Little Children
  • Alex Winter (born 1965), actor
  • Kim Zimmer (born 1955), actress best known for appearing on Guiding Light
  • Louis Zorich (1924–2018), actor, who appeared on Mad About You; husband of actress Olympia Dukakis

Music

Joe Walsh 4 - 1975
Joe Walsh
Jenny Owen Youngs 1
Jenny Owen Youngs
  • Geri Allen (1957–2017), jazz pianist
  • Al Anderson (born 1950), guitarist and songwriter; played with Bob Marley & The Wailers
  • David Bendeth (born 1954), musician, songwriter and producer
  • Chuck Burgi (born 1952), drummer
  • Jackie Cain (1928–2014), jazz singer known for her partnership with her husband in the duo Jackie and Roy
  • Ted Curson (1935–2012), jazz trumpeter
  • Robert DeLeo (born 1966), bass player, songwriter, and harmony vocalist for the Stone Temple Pilots
  • Tommy DeVito (1928–2020), guitarist and vocalist for The Four Seasons
  • Michael Fabiano (born 1984), opera singer
  • Hussein Fatal (1973–2015), rapper, former member of the Outlawz
  • Bob Gaudio (born 1942), singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and songwriting member of The Four Seasons
  • Evan Stephens Hall (born 1989), musician best known as frontman of indie rock band Pinegrove
  • Billy Hart (born 1940), jazz drummer
  • Herman Hupfeld (1894–1951), lyricist who wrote "As Time Goes By", the song featured in the 1943 Oscar winner Casablanca
  • Dorothy Kirsten (1910–1992), lyric soprano
  • Vincent La Selva (1929–2017), symphony and opera conductor
  • Gene Lake (born 1966) jazz drummer
  • Oliver Lake (born 1944), alto saxophone player and composer
  • Joseph Lamb (1887–1960), prominent composer of ragtime music
  • Reggie Lucas (1953–2018), musician, songwriter and record producer best known for having produced the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album
  • Gregori Lukas (born 1990), recording artist, singer, dancer and actor
  • Christian McBride (born 1972), three-time Grammy Award winner for jazz (bass)
  • Jim McNeely (born 1949), Grammy-winning jazz pianist, composer and arranger
  • Anwar Robinson (born 1979), singer, contestant on American Idol
  • Wallace Roney (1960–2020), trumpet player and jazz musician
  • Adam Schlesinger (1967–2020), musician, bass player for Fountains of Wayne and Ivy
  • Duncan Sheik (born 1969), singer-songwriter, composer; known for his 1996 single, "Barely Breathing", and his work on the award-winning musical Spring Awakening
  • Ty Taylor (born 1967), guitarist and vocalist of R&B group Dakota Moon; contestant on the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS
  • Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas (1951–2021), alto saxophone player, flautist, and percussionist, who was a founding member of R&B/soul/funk Kool & the Gang
  • Steve Turre (born 1948), jazz trombonist and member of Saturday Night Live band since 1984
  • Joe Walsh (born 1947), musician/songwriter for the James Gang and the Eagles
  • Carol Williams, disco musician
  • Reggie Workman (born 1937), jazz musician
  • Jenny Owen Youngs (born 1981), singer/songwriter

Business

  • George Batten (1854–1918), advertising executive whose firm was part of the merger that created what is now BBDO
  • Clarence Birdseye (1886–1956), inventor, entrepreneur and naturalist who is considered to be the founder of the modern frozen food industry
  • John C. Bogle (1929–2019), founder and CEO of The Vanguard Group, a pioneer in financial investments
  • John J. Cali (1918–2014), real estate developer
  • Israel Crane (1774–1858), merchant
  • Allen B. DuMont (1901–1965), television pioneer and inventor who created the DuMont Television Network
  • Floyd Hall (1995–2001), CEO of Kmart
  • Charles B. Johnson (born 1933), businessman
  • Ken Kurson (born 1968), political consultant, writer and journalist, who was editor-in-chief of The New York Observer between 2013 and 2017
  • Geraldine Laybourne (born 1947), former TV executive and entrepreneur, co-founder of Nickelodeon and Oxygen cable networks
  • Benjamin Moore (1905–1917), co-founder with his brother Robert of Benjamin Moore & Co, in Brooklyn in 1883; lived in Upper Montclair
  • Guy T. Viskniskki (1876–1949), newspaper editor and news executive who founded the World War I edition of the Stars and Stripes newspaper while serving as a U.S. Army officer in France with the American Expeditionary Force

Government, politics, law, and military

  • Bradley Abelow (born 1958), New Jersey State Treasurer, appointed by Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine
  • Steve Adubato Jr. (born 1957), former member of the New Jersey General Assembly; talk show host
  • W. I. Lincoln Adams (1865–1946), politician, banker and soldier
  • Tom Ammiano (born 1941), politician and LGBT rights activist who served as a member of the California State Assembly and on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
  • Norman Atkins (1934–2010), Canadian Senator and a political figure in Canada
  • Jane Barus (1892–1977), member of the Constitutional convention that formulated the 1947 New Jersey State Constitution
  • Lezli Baskerville (born 1956), lawyer who has served as president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
  • Wendy Benchley (born 1941), marine and environmental conservation advocate and former elected official who was the wife of author Peter Benchley
  • Bill Bradley (born 1942), former forward for the New York Knicks; U.S. Senator; prospective presidential candidate
  • Raymond A. Brown (1915–2009), attorney whose clients included Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and "Dr. X" physician Mario Jascalevich
  • Christopher Cerf (born c. 1955), former Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education who is the state-appointed Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools
  • Bayard H. Faulkner (1894–1983), mayor and chairman of the Commission on Municipal Government that created New Jersey's Optional Municipal Charter Law, better known eponymously as the Faulkner Act
  • Paul J. Fishman (born 1957), United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
  • Edwin J. Godfrey (1932–2002), lieutenant general in the United States Marine Corps who served as Commander of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific
  • William H. Gray (1941–2013), Congressman who served as head of the United Negro College Fund
  • Harold Harrison (1872–1953), businessman and politician who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1937 to 1940 and in the Minnesota Senate from 1941 to 1950
  • Lonna Hooks, Secretary of State of New Jersey from 1994 to 1998, under Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman
  • Jeh Johnson (born 1957), lawyer and former government official who was United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017
  • Jim Johnson (born 1960), former Department of Treasury official and activist
  • J. Erik Jonsson (1901–1995), businessman, philanthropist, and mayor of Dallas, Texas, who was reared in Montclair
  • Don Katz (born 1952), founder and executive chairman of Audible
  • Sean T. Kean (born 1963), politician who represents the 11th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly
  • Arthur Kinoy (1920–2003), activist lawyer who was part of the team that represented the Chicago Seven
  • Howard Krongard (born 1940), head of the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State
  • Archie Lochhead (1892–1971), first director of the Exchange Stabilization Fund and President of the Universal Trading Corporation
  • Ellen Malcolm (born 1947), activist with a long career in American politics, particularly in political fundraising, who founded EMILY's List in 1985
  • Benjamin Chavis Muhammad (born 1948), civil rights activist
  • Imani Oakley (born 1990), 2022 candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, former legislative director for New Jersey branch of the Working Families Party and political organizer
  • Price D. Rice (1916–1999), U.S. Army Air Corps/U.S. Air Force officer/full-bird Colonel and member of the Tuskegee Airmen
  • Mikie Sherrill (born 1972), former United States Navy pilot and prosecutor who represents New Jersey's 11th District in the U.S. House of Representatives
  • Lucy Stone (1818–1893), feminist and suffragist
  • Benjamin Strong Jr. (1872–1928), governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
  • Edward W. Townsend (1855–1942), represented New Jersey's 6th congressional district, 1911–1913, and the 10th district, 1913–1915
  • James Wallwork (born 1930), politician who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature
  • Norman H. White (1871–1951), publisher and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Sports

Other

  • Paul Cushing Child (1902–1994), husband of chef Julia Child, who introduced his wife to fine cuisine, which began her legendary career
  • Victor E. Engstrom (1914–2000), philatelist
  • Vladimir Guryev and Lydia Guryev, a.k.a. Richard and Cynthia Murphy, arrested in their Montclair home June 2010 by FBI; admitted in court to being agents of the Russian Federation and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as unregistered agents; expelled with eight others in a prisoner exchange with Russia
  • Florence Merriam Johnson (c. 1876–1954), American Red Cross nurse during World War I, received Florence Nightingale Medal
  • Isaac Newton Lewis (1858–1931), soldier and inventor who created the Lewis gun
  • Mizkif (born 1995), Twitch streamer
  • Pearl Grigsby Richardson (1896–1983), educator and clubwoman
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