58 Notable alumni of Knox College
Updated: June 15, 2026 EliteDegrees
Knox College is 2610st in the world, 1st in North America, and 677st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 58 notable alumni from Knox College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Knox College won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Charles Edward Swanson
1879-1970 (aged 91)
lawyer
politician
Charles Edward Swanson served two terms as a Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 9th congressional district. His congressional career ended in the landslide that accompanied the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to his first term as president.
+ show more
2. Stephen V. White
1831-1913 (aged 82)
lawyer
politician
Stephen Van Culen White was a U.S. Representative from New York.
3. James E. Defebaugh
1926-2014 (aged 88)
politician
James E. Defebaugh III was a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1971 to 1982.
4. William E. Phelps
1835-1914 (aged 79)
diplomat
politician
William Edwin Phelps was an American politician from Peoria County, Illinois. During the Civil War, he served as Consulate General of Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1868, he was elected to one term in the Illinois House of Representatives.
+ show more
5. Benton Jay Hall
1835-1894 (aged 59)
lawyer
politician
Benton Jay "Ben" Hall was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district in southeastern Iowa.
6. Linda Langston
1953-. (aged 73)
politician
Linda Langston is director of strategic relations for the National Association of Counties in Washington, D.C., US. Prior to that Langston was a member of the Linn County Board of Supervisors. She also serves as the co-chair of the Resilient America Roundtable for the National Academy of Sciences and is on the national advisory council for FEMA. She was elected...
+ show more
7. B. J. Hollars
1984-. (aged 42)
university teacher
editor
writer
B.J. Hollars is an American author of literary essays and nonfiction novels. Hollars is professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a columnist for the Leader-Telegram.
+ show more
8. Harry Archer
1888-1960 (aged 72)
composer
Harry Archer was an American composer and orchestra leader. He is best remembered for six Broadway shows from the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 20th-century, but also made several popular recordings in the 1920s for Brunswick Records.
+ show more
9. George Helgesen Fitch
1877-1915 (aged 38)
satirist
journalist
politician
humorist
George Helgesen Fitch was an American author, humorist, and journalist perhaps best known for his stories about fictional Siwash College.
10. Matt Berg
1978-. (aged 48)
businessperson
Matt Berg is the CEO of Ona, which he co-founded with Peter Lubell-Doughtie, Ukang'a Dickson and Roger Wong. Previously, he was the ICT Director for the Millennium Villages Project at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, the Technology Director for ChildCount+, and a member of Columbia University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering research group in the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied...
+ show more
11. Ezekiel S. Sampson
1831-1892 (aged 61)
lawyer
judge
politician
Ezekiel Silas Sampson was a lawyer, prosecutor, Civil War officer, judge, and two-term Republican Congressman from Iowa's 6th congressional district.
+ show more
12. George Radcliffe Colton
1865-1916 (aged 51)
politician
George Radcliffe Colton was an American politician and civil servant. He served in the Nebraska House of Representatives and as governor of Puerto Rico from November 6, 1909, to November 15, 1913, a position to which he was appointed by President William Howard Taft.
+ show more
13. Albinus Nance
1848-1911 (aged 63)
lawyer
politician
Albinus Roberts Nance was an American politician. He served as a soldier during the American Civil War, and as the fourth governor of Nebraska.
14. Robert Bruce Chiperfield
1899-1971 (aged 72)
lawyer
politician
Robert Bruce Chiperfield, son of United States Congressman Burnett Mitchell Chiperfield, was an Illinois lawyer and 12-term U.S. Representative from Illinois. He served as chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during the early years of the Eisenhower administration.
+ show more
15. Lorenzo D. Lewelling
1846-1900 (aged 54)
politician
Lorenzo Dow Lewelling was the 12th governor of Kansas.
16. Edgar Addison Bancroft
1857-1925 (aged 68)
diplomat
Edgar Addison Bancroft was an American lawyer and diplomat. He served as United States Ambassador to Japan from 1924 to 1925.
17. John L. Kennedy
1854-1946 (aged 92)
lawyer
businessperson
politician
John Lauderdale Kennedy was an American Republican Party politician.
18. Alson Streeter
1823-1901 (aged 78)
miner
farmer
politician
Alson Jenness Streeter was an American farmer, miner and politician who was the Union Labor Party nominee in the United States presidential election of 1888. He was also an early member of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry following its foundation in the 1860s and supported Granger Laws while in office.
+ show more
19. Mikaela Kumlin Granit
1967-. (aged 59)
diplomat
Mikaela Ruth Gunilla Kumlin Granit is a Swedish diplomat who has been the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the European Union since 2023.
20. Shu Kitamura
1996-. (aged 30)
association football player
Shu Kitamura is a Hong Kong former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or a right back.
21. Ander Monson
1975-. (aged 51)
poet
novelist
Ander Monson is an American novelist, poet, and nonfiction writer.
22. David P. Fridovich
soldier
David P. Fridovich is a retired lieutenant general and Green Beret in the United States Army. His position at the time of retirement was deputy commander of the U.S. military's United States Special Operations Command that directs special operations campaigns.
+ show more
23. Henry Thomas Rainey
1860-1934 (aged 74)
lawyer
judge
politician
Henry Thomas Rainey was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party from Illinois, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1921 and from 1923 to his death in 1934. He rose to Speaker of the House, during the famous Hundred days of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
+ show more
24. Zack Stephenson
politician
Zack Stephenson is an American politician who has served since 2019 as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and since 2025 as the House leader of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). He represents District 35A in the northwestern Twin Cities metropolitan area.
+ show more
25. John Sanborn Phillips
1861-1949 (aged 88)
editor
businessperson
journalist
John Sanborn Phillips attended Knox College in Illinois, where he worked on the student newspaper and met S. S. McClure. After earning an associate's degree, he entered Harvard College as a junior, and graduated in 1885, magna cum laude. In 1887 McClure hired him to manage the home office of the McClure Newspaper Syndicate (founded in 1884).
+ show more
26. Peter Cozzens
1957-. (aged 69)
historian
military commander
writer
Peter Cozzens is an American historian and retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer. He has written and/or edited over seventeen books on the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
+ show more
27. Joe Moore
1958-. (aged 68)
politician
Joseph A. Moore is a former Chicago politician. Moore was first elected to Chicago City Council as the alderman for the 49th ward, which includes the majority of Rogers Park and portions of West Ridge, in 1991. Moore won re-election six times, before losing to challenger Maria Hadden in 2019.
+ show more
28. Don Samuelson
1913-2000 (aged 87)
politician
Donald William Samuelson was an American Republican politician who served as the 25th governor of Idaho, from 1967 to 1971. He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid (1970).
+ show more
29. Julie Morrison
1956-. (aged 70)
politician
Julie A. Morrison is a member of the Illinois Senate from the 29th district. The 29th district includes all or parts of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Bannockburn, Deerfield, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook and North Chicago. Prior to her service in the Illinois Senate, she was the West Deerfield Township Supervisor.
+ show more
30. John Huston Finley
1863-1940 (aged 77)
writer
newspaper editor
journalist
editor
John Huston Finley was Professor of Polities at Princeton University from 1900 to 1903, and President of the City College of New York from 1903 until 1913, when he was appointed President of the University of the State of New York and Commissioner of Education of the State of New York. A promenade along the western bank of the East...
+ show more
31. Earnest Elmo Calkins
1868-1964 (aged 96)
advertising person
Earnest Elmo Calkins was a deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising, of fictional characters, the soft sell, and the idea of "consumer engineering". He co-founded the influential Calkins & Holden advertising agency. His work was recognized with many awards during his lifetime and was called the "Dean of Advertising Men" and "arguably the single...
+ show more
32. Charles William Gordon
1860-1937 (aged 77)
novelist
pastor
writer
Charles William Gordon, CMG, also known as Ralph Connor, was a Canadian novelist, using the Connor pen name while maintaining his status as a church leader, first in the Presbyterian and later the United Church in Canada.
+ show more
33. Joseph J. Sisco
1919-2004 (aged 85)
diplomat
columnist
academic administrator
Joseph John Sisco was a diplomat who played a major role in then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East. His career in the State Department spanned five presidential administrations.
+ show more
34. S. S. McClure
1857-1949 (aged 92)
journalist
publisher
Samuel Sidney McClure was an American publisher who became known as a key figure in investigative, or muckraking, journalism. He co-founded and ran McClure's Magazine from 1893 to 1911, which ran numerous exposées of wrongdoing in business and politics, such as those written by Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, and Lincoln Steffens. The magazine ran fiction and nonfiction by the...
+ show more
35. Don Harmon
1966-. (aged 60)
politician
Don Harmon is an American attorney and president of the Illinois Senate since 2020. A member of the Democratic party, he has represented 39th Senate District since 2003. His district includes Chicago's Austin neighborhood and the suburbs of Oak Park, Addison, Bensenville, Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Melrose Park, Northlake, River Grove, Rosemont, Schiller Park, and Stone Park.
+ show more
36. Bob Kiss
1947-. (aged 79)
politician
Bob Kiss is an American politician and former mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Kiss was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from January 2001 until he stepped down to assume office as mayor of Burlington, following his election to that office in March 2006. He is a member of the Vermont Progressive Party. Kiss won re-election in 2009, and...
+ show more
37. Ralph Waldo Trine
1866-1958 (aged 92)
historian
philosopher
writer
Ralph Waldo Trine was an American New Thought writer, philosopher and animal welfare activist.
38. Robert F. Spetzler
1944-. (aged 82)
neurosurgeon
Robert F. Spetzler is a neurosurgeon and the J.N. Harber Chairman Emeritus of Neurological Surgery and director emeritus of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. He retired as an active neurosurgeon in July 2017. He is also Professor of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona.
+ show more
39. Hiram Rhodes Revels
1827-1901 (aged 74)
politician
religious leader
Hiram Rhodes Revels was an American Republican politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. Elected by the Mississippi legislature to the United States Senate as a Republican to represent Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction...
+ show more
40. Margaret A. Ryan
1964-. (aged 62)
lawyer
judge
Margaret Ann "Meg" Ryan is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. She joined the court in 2006 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. Her term expired on July 31, 2020.
+ show more
41. Whitcomb L. Judson
1846-1909 (aged 63)
inventor
engineer
Whitcomb L. Judson was an American machine salesman, mechanical engineer and inventor. He received thirty patents over a sixteen-year career, fourteen of which were on pneumatic street railway innovations. Six of his patents had to do with a motor mechanism suspended beneath the rail-car that functioned with compressed air. He founded the Judson Pneumatic Street Railway.
+ show more
42. Ellen Browning Scripps
1836-1932 (aged 96)
writer
businessperson
journalist
Ellen Browning Scripps was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E.W. Scripps created the E.W. Scripps Company, America's largest chain of newspapers, linking Midwestern industrial cities with booming towns in the West. By the 1920s, Ellen Browning Scripps was worth an estimated $30 million (or...
+ show more
43. Don Marquis
1878-1937 (aged 59)
playwright
humorist
film director
journalist
poet
Donald Robert Perry Marquis was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters Archy and Mehitabel, Archy being a supposed author of humorous verse. During his lifetime he was equally famous for creating another fictitious character, "the Old Soak," who was the subject of...
+ show more
44. Dorothea Tanning
1910-2012 (aged 102)
sculptor
draftsperson
printmaker
novelist
painter
Dorothea Margaret Tanning was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Her early work was influenced by Surrealism.
45. Edgar Lee Masters
1868-1950 (aged 82)
playwright
poet
lawyer
writer
novelist
Edgar Lee Masters was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology (1915), The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness, An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one...
+ show more
46. Vir Das
1979-. (aged 47)
television director
film actor
comedian
film director
television actor
Vir Das is an Indian comedian, actor and musician. After beginning a career in standup comedy, Das moved to Hindi cinema starring in films like Badmaash Company (2010), Delhi Belly (2011), and Go Goa Gone (2013) in supporting roles. In 2017, he performed the Netflix special Abroad Understanding. Das has appeared in approximately 35 plays, over 100 stand-up comedy shows,...
+ show more
47. Gene Rayburn
1917-1999 (aged 82)
television presenter
announcer
game show host
actor
radio personality
Gene Rayburn was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the American television game show Match Game for over two decades.
+ show more
48. John Podesta
1949-. (aged 77)
lawyer
lobbyist
politician
John David Podesta Jr. is an American political consultant who served as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy from 2024 to 2025, having previously served as Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation from 2022 to 2025. Podesta previously served as White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton from 1998 to...
+ show more
49. Amy Carlson
1968-. (aged 58)
television actor
film director
actor
film actor
Amy Lynn Carlson is an American actress known for her roles as Linda Reagan in the CBS police procedural Blue Bloods, Alex Taylor on the NBC drama Third Watch, and Josie Watts in the NBC daytime soap opera Another World.
+ show more
50. Robert Hanssen
1944-2023 (aged 79)
spy
mole
government agent
Robert Philip Hanssen was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1979 to 2001. His espionage was described by the U.S. Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history".
+ show more
51. Eugene Field
1850-1895 (aged 45)
editor
writer
journalist
children's writer
poet
Eugene Field Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood".
+ show more
52. John Buford
1826-1863 (aged 37)
military officer
John Buford Jr. was a United States Army cavalry officer. He fought for the Union during the American Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. Buford is best known for his actions in the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, by identifying Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge as high ground that would be...
+ show more
53. John Poage Williamson
1835-1917 (aged 82)
missionary
writer
politician
John Poage Williamson was an American missionary, politician, and writer.
54. Elizabeth Eckford
1941-. (aged 85)
activist
Elizabeth Ann Eckford is an American civil rights activist and one of the Little Rock Nine, a group of African American students who, in 1957, were the first black students ever to attend classes at the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The integration came as a result of the 1954 United States Supreme Court...
+ show more
55. George S. Benson
1898-1991 (aged 93)
missionary
George Stuart Benson was an American missionary, college administrator, and conservative political activist. After fleeing communist uprisings in China as a missionary, Benson became an anticommunist and conservative activist, taking stances against the New Deal, and later, racial integration. Benson served for many years as the president of Harding College, and oversaw a large propaganda network through his National Education...
+ show more
56. Otto Harbach
1873-1963 (aged 90)
librettist
screenwriter
songwriter
journalist
lyricist
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broadway composers of the early 20th century, including Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, and Sigmund Romberg.
+ show more
57. Charles Eastman
1858-1939 (aged 81)
ombudsman
writer
autobiographer
folklorist
physician
Charles Alexander Eastman was an American physician, writer, and social reformer. He was "one of the most prolific authors and speakers on Sioux ethnohistory and American Indian affairs" in the early 20th century.
+ show more
58. Charles Wesley Leffingwell
1840-1928 (aged 88)
Charles Wesley Leffingwell was an American author, educator, and Episcopal priest.