35 Notable alumni of Bethany College – West Virginia
Updated: June 13, 2026 EliteDegrees
Bethany College – West Virginia is 5006st in the world, 1st in North America, and 1322st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 35 notable alumni from Bethany College – West Virginia sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Bethany College – West Virginia won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Oliver S. Marshall
1850-1934 (aged 84)
politician
Oliver S. Marshall was an American politician serving as a member of the West Virginia Senate from 1st District in three terms from 1897 to 1901, 1905 to 1909, and 1913 to 1917. A member of the Republican Party, he served as President of the Senate from 1899 to 1901.
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2. George Roark
1898-1993 (aged 95)
basketball coach
baseball player
George Wheeler Roark was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football, basketball, and track. He served as the head football coach at Westminster College of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania in 1936 and at Washington & Jefferson College from 1937 to 1940, compiling a career college football record of 18–18–3. Roark also coached basketball and track at Westminster.
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3. Francis Johnson Love
1901-1989 (aged 88)
head teacher
lawyer
politician
Francis Johnson Love was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a Republican U.S. Congressman from West Virginia from 1947 to 1949.
4. John O. Pendleton
1851-1916 (aged 65)
lawyer
politician
John Overton Pendleton was a U.S. representative from West Virginia.
5. William N. Sweeney
1832-1895 (aged 63)
lawyer
politician
William Northcut Sweeney was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.
6. John Robinson Tait
1834-1909 (aged 75)
painter
John Robinson Tait was an American landscape painter, art critic, and travel writer. He spent many years in Germany, where he was associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule and the Munich School.
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7. Edward Mayes
1846-1917 (aged 71)
educator
Edward Mayes was an American lawyer and law professor who served as the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1887 to 1891.
8. John C. New
1831-1906 (aged 75)
diplomat
lawyer
politician
John Chalfant New was a United States banker and lawyer who held a variety of government positions. He was Treasurer of the United States from 1875 to 1876.
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9. Jeptha D. New
1830-1892 (aged 62)
lawyer
judge
politician
Jeptha Dudley New was a U.S. representative from Indiana. He was the grandson of Jethro New, nephew of Robert A. New, brother of John C. New, and uncle of Harry Stewart New.
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10. Ray Rappaport
1922-2010 (aged 88)
biologist
Ray Rappaport was an American cell biologist. He did pioneering research using physical manipulations of cells to understand the mechanisms of cytokinesis, the process by which a cell's cytoplasm is divided in two.
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11. Daniel Coleman DeJarnette, Sr
1822-1881 (aged 59)
lawyer
politician
Daniel Coleman DeJarnette Sr. was a prominent Virginia politician, serving in the United States Congress and then in the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War.
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12. Ben M. Williamson
1864-1941 (aged 77)
politician
Ben Mitchell Williamson was a Democratic U.S. senator from Kentucky.
13. John E. Niederhuber
surgeon
oncologist
John Edward Niederhuber is an American oncologist who was the 13th director of the National Cancer Institute, from 2006 until July 2010, succeeding Andrew von Eschenbach, who went on to become a director at biotechnology firm BioTime. A nationally renowned surgeon and researcher, Dr. Niederhuber has dedicated his four-decade career to the treatment and study of cancer - as a...
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14. Jeffrey L. Seglin
1956-. (aged 70)
teacher
writer
journalist
Jeffrey L. Seglin is an American columnist, author, and teacher. He is currently a senior lecturer, emeritus, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. From 2011 until 2023, he was a senior lecturer and director of the communications program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He consults widely on writing, communications,...
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15. John A. Brooks
1836-1897 (aged 61)
politician
John Anderson Brooks was a religious scholar and prohibitionist who served as the Prohibition Party's vice presidential nominee during the 1888 presidential election.
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16. Ed Wells
1900-1986 (aged 86)
baseball player
Edwin Lee Wells, nicknamed "Satchelfoot", was an American baseball pitcher. He played professional baseball for 14 seasons from 1923 to 1936, including 11 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers (1923–1927), New York Yankees (1929–1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933–1934). Wells was a left-handed pitcher, with a hard fastball and a slow curve. Wells appeared in 291 major...
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17. Virginia Dare Aderholdt
1910-1997 (aged 87)
cryptographer
Virginia Dare Aderholdt was an Arlington Hall cryptanalyst and Japanese translator. She decrypted the intercepted Japanese surrender message at the close of World War II on August 14, 1945.
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18. Lawrence B. Slobodkin
1928-2009 (aged 81)
ecologist
Lawrence Basil Slobodkin was an American ecologist and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, State University of New York. He was one of the leading pioneers of modern ecology. His innovative thinking and research, provocative teaching, and visionary leadership helped transform ecology into a modern science, with deep links to evolution.
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19. George T. Oliver
1848-1919 (aged 71)
politician
lawyer
entrepreneur
journalist
publisher
George Tener Oliver was an American lawyer, publisher, and Republican party politician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1909 until 1917.
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20. Ira Rodgers
1895-1963 (aged 68)
coach
professor
baseball player
American football player
Ira Errett "Rat" Rodgers was an American football, basketball, baseball, and golf player and coach. He played college football for West Virginia University where he was selected as an All-American in 1919. He also served as the school's head football coach from 1925 to 1930 and again from 1943 to 1945.
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21. Benjamin Barker Odell Jr
1854-1926 (aged 72)
politician
Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. was an American businessman and politician who served as the 34th governor of New York from 1901 to 1904.
22. Benjamin Joseph Franklin
1839-1898 (aged 59)
lawyer
politician
Benjamin Joseph Franklin was a U.S. representative from Missouri, and territorial governor of Arizona.
23. Richard Montgomery Gano
1830-1913 (aged 83)
military personnel
politician
Richard Montgomery Gano was a physician, Protestant minister, and brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
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24. John William McGarvey
1829-1911 (aged 82)
Christian minister
theologian
educator
John William McGarvey (March 1, 1829 – October 6, 1911) was a minister, author, and religious educator in the American Restoration Movement. He was particularly associated with the College of the Bible in Lexington, Kentucky (today Lexington Theological Seminary) where he taught for 46 years, serving as president from 1895 to 1911. He was noted for his opposition to theological...
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25. Edgar Odell Lovett
1871-1957 (aged 86)
university teacher
mathematician
university president
Edgar Odell Lovett was an American educator and education administrator.
26. William Ferrel
1817-1891 (aged 74)
meteorologist
astronomer
William Ferrel was an American meteorologist who developed theories that explained the mid-latitude atmospheric circulation cell in detail, and it is after him that the Ferrel cell is named.
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27. Joseph Rucker Lamar
1857-1916 (aged 59)
lawyer
judge
politician
Joseph Rucker Lamar was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court appointed by President William Howard Taft. A cousin of former associate justice Lucius Lamar, he served from 1911 until his death in 1916.
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28. Sukhi Turner
1952-. (aged 74)
politician
Dame Sukhinder Kaur Gill Turner DNZM, commonly known as Sukhi Turner, is a New Zealand politician who served as the Mayor of Dunedin, New Zealand, from 1995 until her retirement from the position in 2004. She was also regarded by some as New Zealand's most prominent politician from the country's Indian community.
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29. José María Jesús Carbajal
1809-1874 (aged 65)
politician
José María Jesús Carbajal was a Mexican Tejano who opposed the Centralist government installed by Antonio López de Santa Anna, but was a conscientious objector who refused to take up arms against his own people. Mexican conscientious objectors paid a price for their refusals, in that Texan Brigadier General Thomas Jefferson Rusk confiscated the homes of those who wished to...
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30. Tom Poston
1921-2007 (aged 86)
film actor
television actor
stage actor
Thomas Gordon Poston was an American actor, appearing in television roles from the 1950s through the early to mid-2000s, reportedly appearing in more sitcoms than any other actor. In the 1980s, he played George Utley on the CBS sitcom Newhart, receiving three Emmy Award nominations for the role. In addition he had a number of film roles and appeared frequently...
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31. Shane Douglas
1964-. (aged 62)
teacher
professional wrestler
Troy Allan Martin is an American professional wrestler, manager, and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
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32. Champ Clark
1850-1921 (aged 71)
lawyer
politician
James Beauchamp Clark was an American politician and attorney who served as the 36th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919. He was the only Democrat to serve as speaker during the Progressive Era when Republicans dominated the House, Senate, and presidency. Clark represented Missouri's 9th district between 1893 and 1921.
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33. Thomas Buergenthal
1934-2023 (aged 89)
judge
university teacher
lawyer
writer
jurist
Thomas Buergenthal was a Czechoslovak-born American international lawyer, scholar, law school dean, and judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). He resigned his ICJ post as of 6 September 2010 and returned to his position at The George Washington University Law School where he was the Lobingier Professor Emeritus of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence.
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34. William H. Macy
1950-. (aged 76)
film director
teacher
television actor
theatrical director
film actor
William Hall Macy Jr. is an American actor and filmmaker. He is a two-time Emmy Award and four-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Drama Critics' Circle Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.
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35. Frances McDormand
1957-. (aged 69)
stage actor
actor
television producer
voice actor
film producer
Frances Louise McDormand is an American actress and film producer. In a career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting". Additionally, she has received three British Academy Film Awards, a Golden Globe...
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