From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of prominent people who were born in
Worcester, Massachusetts , lived in Worcester, or for whom Worcester is a significant part of their identity.
Academics and inventors
Richard T. Antoun (1932–2009), Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at
Binghamton University
Harvey Ball (1921–2001), inventor of the
smiley face
Alan T. Busby (1895–1992), educator and first African-American alumnus of the
University of Connecticut
Harold W. Chase (1922–1982), educator and United States military officer
Robert Goddard (1882–1945), father of modern rocketry
G. Stanley Hall (1846–1924), first president of
Clark University
John Kneller (1916–2009), English-American professor and fifth President of
Brooklyn College
David Green (born 1963), president of
Colby College
Leonard Morse (born 1929), university professor of clinical medicine
Lawrence Park (1873–1924), art historian, architect, and genealogist
Francis E. Reed (1852–1917), inventor and industrialist who founded F.E. Reed & Co.
Daniel B. Wesson (1825–1906), gunsmith, co-founder of
Smith & Wesson
Actors and artists
John Wolcott Adams (1874–1925), artist
Edith Ella Baldwin (1846–1920), artist
H. Jon Benjamin , actor best known as the voices of
Sterling Archer on
Archer , Bob Belcher on
Bob's Burgers , and Can of Vegetables in the
Wet Hot American Summer franchise
Christopher Boffoli , photographer
Elbridge Boyden , architect of
Mechanics Hall
Zara Cully , actress best known for
The Jeffersons
Stephen DiRado , photographer
Stephen C. Earle , architect
Paul Fontaine , abstractist colorist painter
Joslyn Fox , drag queen, contestant on
Rupaul’s Drag Race season 6
Ryan Idol , adult film actor
Rita Johnson , actress, co-starred opposite Spencer Tracy in Edison, The Man
Jean Louisa Kelly , actress from
Yes, Dear
Arthur Kennedy , Oscar-nominated, Tony Award-winning actor
Dorothy Stratton King , painter and printmaker
Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski , actresses and models best known as the "Coors Light Twins"
Jarrett J. Krosoczka , children's book author and illustrator; his
Punk Farm optioned by DreamWorks Animation
Denis Leary , actor and comedian
Tom Lewis , artist and activist
Joyner Lucas , American rapper currently signed to Atlantic Records
John Lurie , actor, musician, and composer
Nora Marlowe (1915–1977), actress
Eddie Mekka , actor best known for playing Carmine Ragusa on
Laverne and Shirley
Alisan Porter , former child actress and winner of Season 10 of
The Voice
Terri Priest , artist
Sam Qualiana , actor and filmmaker involved with many low-budget horror films, including
Snow Shark (2012)
Joyce Reopel , artist
Renee Sands , former child actress and singer from
Kids Incorporated and
Wild Orchid
Sam Seder , podcast host of
The Majority Report , actor, writer and director
Joseph Skinger , silversmith, sculptor
Doug Stanhope , comedian known for abrasive style and for
The Man Show
Lewis Stone (1879–1953), actor, The Secret Six ,
Grand Hotel ,
Andy Hardy series
Erik Per Sullivan , actor,
Malcolm in the Middle
Wu Tsang , filmmaker, artist, and performer
David Whitney , art curator
Alicia Witt , actress, singer-songwriter
Hildegard Woodward , children's book illustrator
Athletes
Jerry Azumah , former NFL
defensive back
[1]
Tyler Beede (born 1993), baseball pitcher for the
San Francisco Giants
Frank Carroll , US
figure skater and coach, 1960 graduate of the
College of the Holy Cross , actor
[2]
Tim Collins , relief pitcher for the
Kansas City Royals
[3]
Alana Cook , soccer player for the
United States national team
[4]
Bob Cousy , Hall of Fame basketball player; attended the College of the Holy Cross; currently lives in Worcester
[5]
Ken Doane , professional wrestler
[6]
Oliver Drake , relief pitcher who's a free agent
Rich Gedman ,
Boston Red Sox catcher, manager of the
Worcester Tornadoes
[7]
Bill Guerin , former Pittsburgh Penguins right winger
[8]
Aaron Haddad , professional wrestler in
WWE
[9]
Tom Heinsohn , NBA Hall of Fame,
Boston Celtics great; attended College of Holy Cross
Gordon Lockbaum , attended
Holy Cross College ; twice finished in the top five in the
Heisman Trophy balloting
[10]
Dwayne McClain , former NBA/Professional basketball player. Starred at Villanova in the early/mid 1980s. Attended Holy Name Catholic Central
Tom Poti , former NHL defenseman
[11]
J.P. Ricciardi , MLB executive, former
general manager of the
Toronto Blue Jays
[12]
José Antonio Rivera , WBA light middleweight champion[
citation needed ]
Richard Rodgers II , 3rd-string
Tight End for the
Philadelphia Eagles ; played for
St. John's High School
Edwin Rodríguez , boxer
[13]
Rosy Ryan – was a professional baseball pitcher. He played ten seasons. Best remembered for his time with the World Series Champion New York Giants
Tanyon Sturtze , former MLB pitcher
[14]
Major Taylor ,
track cycling champion
[15]
Bill Toomey , gold medal decathlete, 1968 Olympics; attended Worcester Academy
Leah Van Dale , professional wrestler better known by her ring name Carmella
Vinnie Yablonski , NFL player
[16]
Musicians
John Adams , popular composer
Duncan Arsenault , musician
Norman Bailey , big band trumpet player from
The Lawrence Welk Show
Jaki Byard , jazz pianist, composer and recording artist
[17]
Frank Capp , jazz drummer and bandleader
Luke Caswell , better known as Cazwell, an LGBT rapper
Wendell Culley , jazz trumpeter from Worcester who played with Noble Sissle, Lionel Hampton, and Count Basie's Orchestra, and many others
[18]
Don Fagerquist , jazz trumpeter
Four Year Strong , rock band
J. Geils , lead in J. Geils Band, attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute
J. Geils Band , formed in Worcester as a fraternity party band at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute , as Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels
Georgia Gibbs , 1950s pop singer
Duke Levine , guitarist
[19]
The Hotelier , rock band
Jordan Knight , member of the
boy band New Kids On The Block
Joyner Lucas , rapper
Arun Luthra , jazz saxophonist,
konnakol artist, composer, arranger, band leader
[20]
Miriam "Mamie" Moffitt , jazz pianist and band leader of Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds, the first professional jazz ensemble in Worcester
[21]
Orpheus , band that enjoyed popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s
Cole Porter ,
Broadway composer, student at
Worcester Academy ca. 1912, born in
Peru, Indiana
Andy Ross , guitarist for rock band
OK Go
Maureen Steele , pop singer and songwriter, one of the very few white artists signed to
Motown during the mid 1980s
Einar Swan , multi-instrumental jazz musician and songwriter of "
When Your Lover Has Gone "
[22]
Boots Ward , jazz drummer, band leader, and Worcester jazz club owner
[23]
Politicians
Charles Allen (1797–1869),
United States Congressman from
Massachusetts
[24]
George Bancroft , 17th
United States Secretary of the Navy , founder of the
US Naval Academy at
Annapolis , author of the first comprehensive history of the United States
[25]
John Binienda , Massachusetts state legislator
[26]
Alexander H. Bullock ,
Governor of Massachusetts (1866–1868)
[27]
Kate Campanale , member of
Massachusetts House of Representatives from District 17
[28]
John Curtis Chamberlain ,
US Representative
[29]
Dorothea Dix , reformer and activist
Dwight Foster ,
Massachusetts Attorney General and Associate Justice of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
[30]
Roger Sherman Baldwin Foster , lawyer
[31]
Emma Goldman , Lithuanian-American anarchist; owned ice cream parlor in Worcester
[32]
Thomas Wentworth Higginson , abolitionist, literary mentor to
Emily Dickinson
[33]
Abbie Hoffman , radical activist
[34]
Abby Kelley Foster , abolitionist, suffragette
[35]
Joseph T. Higgins , member of the New York State Assembly
Jim McGovern ,
US Representative from
Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district
Levi Lincoln Sr. , American revolutionary
Levi Lincoln Jr. ,
Governor of Massachusetts
William D. Mullins , state representative and baseball player
[36]
Albert L. Nash , politician and businessman
[37]
Richard Neal , US Representative from
Massachusetts's 1st congressional district
Kenneth P. O'Donnell , Appointments Secretary and Political Adviser to President
John F. Kennedy
[38]
Robert Owens , businessman and Massachusetts state senator
John Rucho , politician and businessman
[39]
Charles F. Sullivan , Mayor of Worcester and
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts , 1949–1953
Benjamin Swan , longest-serving
Vermont State Treasurer
[40]
Charles G. Washburn , member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Writers and journalists
Jane G. Austin , writer
Mike Barnicle , print and broadcast journalist, social and political commentator
S. N. Behrman , playwright, author of memoir The Worcester Account
Robert Benchley , writer and member of the
Algonquin Round Table
Elizabeth Bishop ,
poet and writer
John D. Casey , novelist and translator
John Dufresne , novelist and screenwriter
Alice Morse Earle , writer
Esther Forbes , writer
Samuel Fuller , screenwriter, producer and director
John Michael Hayes , writer of the
Alfred Hitchcock films
Rear Window ,
To Catch a Thief ,
The Trouble with Harry , and
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Isabel Hornibrook , children's literature writer
Omar Jimenez ,
CNN reporter, known for being arrested on live TV while reporting on the
George Floyd protests in Minneapolis
Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney , author and investigative journalist
Stanley Kunitz ,
Poet Laureate
Frank O'Hara , poet
Charles Olson , modernist poet
Charlie Pierce (born 1953), American writer/journalist, and panelist on
NPR 's
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me
Normand Poirier , writer
Olive Higgins Prouty , writer, known for "Now, Voyager" and "Stella Dallas"
Ernest Lawrence Thayer , poet and journalist, known for "Casey at the Bat"
Isaiah Thomas , publisher of the
Massachusetts Spy
Stanley Woodward , newspaper editor and sportswriter
Other
Lillian Asplund , last survivor of the
RMS Titanic who remembered the actual sinking
William Austin Burt , 19th-century
explorer and
surveyor in
Michigan
Nathaniel Bar-Jonah , convicted child molester, possible
serial killer and cannibal
Timothy Bigelow , Revolutionary War patriot
Jonas Clark , founder of
Clark University
Edgar C. Erickson (1896–1989),
United States Army
Major General and
Chief of the National Guard Bureau
Catherine Fiske (1784-1837), school founder
John Stanley Grauel (1917–1986), Christian Zionist leader
Samuel Fisk Green (1822–1884), physician and medical missionary, served with the
American Ceylon Mission 1847–1873
Samuel R. Heywood , founder of the Heywood Boot & Shoe Company
Myra Kraft , philanthropist, wife of New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft
Royal B. Lord (1899–1963), United States military officer
Joe Morrone , Connecticut Huskies soccer coach
Charley Parkhurst , stagecoach driver and horseman
Irving Price , co-founder of
Fisher Price toys and games
Michael Ritchie , artistic director
George Edward Rueger (1929–2019), Roman Catholic bishop
Stephen Salisbury III , founder of the
Worcester Art Museum
Richard B. Sellars (1915–2010), Chairman and CEO of
Johnson & Johnson
[41]
Madeline Singas , American attorney and jurist.
Ichabod Washburn , founder of
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Steven N. Wickstrom , Army National Guard major general who commanded the
42nd Infantry Division
[42]
Stillman Witt (1808–1875), Ohio railroad and steel executive, banker
[43]
Geoffrey Zakarian , Iron Chef, Food Network Channel celebrity chef
[44]
References
^
"MEET JERRY AZUMAH" . ASAP. Retrieved April 12, 2014 .
^
"Rink Master" . Holy Cross. Retrieved April 12, 2014 .
^
"Tim Collins" . Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2014 .
^
"PSG signs American defender Alana Cook from Stanford" . AP NEWS . January 15, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2023 .
^
"Bob Cousy" . Pro-Basketball Reference . Com. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"Ken Doane" . 2013, Canoe Inc. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2014 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link )
^
"Rich Gedman" . Pro-Baseball Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"Bill Guerin" . Hockey Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"Aaron Haddad" . 2013, Canoe Inc. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2014 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link )
^
Glassboro High School Hall of Fame (1989 Inductees) . Accessed August 6, 2007.
^
"Tom Poti" . Hockey Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"J.P. Ricciardi" . Pro-Baseball Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"Andre Ward pummels Edwin Rodriguez" . Los Angeles Times . November 16, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2014 .
^
"Tanyon Sturtze" . Pro-Baseball Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"Marshall Taylor" . 2000 - 2002 Major Taylor Association, Inc. Retrieved May 15, 2014 .
^
"VINNIE YABLONSKI" . profootballarchives.com. Retrieved December 5, 2014 .
^ Williamson, Chet.
"Jaki Byard – Biography" . Jazz History Database . Retrieved March 11, 2022 .
^ Williamson, Chet.
"Wendell Culley – Biography" . Jazz History Database . Retrieved March 11, 2022 .
^
"Duke Levine Official Site | Duke Levine Official Site" .
^
HeraldSun.com.-Cliff Bellamy
^
"Miriam "Mamie" Moffitt" . Jazz History Database . Retrieved March 11, 2022 .
^ Williamson Sneade, David "Chet" (January 5, 2013).
" "When Your Lover Has Gone" " . Worcester Songwriters of the Great American Songbook . Retrieved March 11, 2022 .
^
"Howard "Howie" Jefferson – Biography" . Jazz History Database . Retrieved April 3, 2022 .
^ Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896 . Marquis Who's Who. 1967.
^
"George Bancroft Secretary of the Navy 1800 - 1891" . Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^
Votesmart.org.-John Binienda, Sr.
^
"Massachusetts Governor Alexander Hamilton Bullock" . NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^
"40 Under Forty: Kate D. Campanale, 32" . wbjournal.com . August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2019 .
^
"CHAMBERLAIN, John Curtis (1772-1834)" . Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^ Davis, William Thomas (1900), History of the Judiciary of Massachusetts: Including the Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies, The Province of Massachusetts Bay, and The Commonwealth , Boston, MA: The Boston Book Company, p. 194
^
"THE ANCESTRY OF SALLY SLEEPER RUSSELL OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS (1919-1983)" . Ancestry.com. Retrieved April 11, 2014 .
^
"People & Events: Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919)" . American Experience. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^
"Thomas Wentworth Higginson" . Civil War Trust. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^
"Abbie Hoffman, 60's Icon, Dies; Yippie Movement Founder Was 52" . The New York Times . Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^
"Abigail Kelley Foster" . Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^ Cooney, Beth; Mooney, Jeanne (March 3, 1986).
"Mullins honored by many" .
Holyoke Transcript-Telegram . pp. 1, 8. Retrieved January 3, 2023 .
^ '1973-1974 Public Officials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Biographical Sketch of Albert L. Nash, pg. 252
^
"Biographical Profiles: Kenneth P. O'Donnell" . John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. Retrieved December 10, 2013 .
^ 1977-1978 Public Officials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Biographical Sketch of John Rucho, pg. 282
^ Henry Swan Dana,
History of Woodstock, Vermont , 1889, page 485
^ Abelson, Reed.
"Richard B. Sellars, Former Chief of Johnson & Johnson, Dies at 94" ,
The New York Times , June 26, 2010.
^ *Caywood, Thomas (May 10, 2009).
"Responsibility of Rank" . Worcester Telegram & Gazette . Worcester, MA.
^
"Personal" . Railway Age . May 15, 1875. p. 199.
hdl :
2027/chi.18114213 . Retrieved October 1, 2017 .
^ Duckett, Richard.
"Worcester-born Comic Kevin. H. Brady keeping the laughs coming online" . Worcester Magazine . Retrieved August 23, 2022 .
Nickname(s): The City of the Seven Hills , The Heart of the Commonwealth , Wormtown , Woo-town , The Woo
Topics Education Government History Museums Sports teams