Notable Alumni of Union College

Jimmy Carter 1924–2024

39th President of the United States

Also attended: Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus, Georgia Southwestern State University, United States Naval Academy

Spouse: Rosalynn Carter (Georgia Southwestern State University)

Child: Amy Carter (Tulane University of Louisiana, Brown University)

Chester A. Arthur 1829–1886

21st President of the United States

Attended until 1848

Child: Chester Alan Arthur II (Princeton University, Columbia University in the City of New York)

William H. Seward 1801–1872

US Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869

Attended until 1820

Child: Augustus Henry Seward (The United States Military Academy at West Point)

Child: Frederick W. Seward (Union College)

Henry Halleck 1815–1872

Union Army general in the Civil War

Attended until 1837

Also attended: The United States Military Academy at West Point

Neil Abercrombie 1938–

7th Governor of Hawaii

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1959

Also attended: University of Hawaii at Manoa

John C. Spencer 1788–1855

Lawyer and cabinet secretary under President Tyler

Attended until 1806

Father: Ambrose Spencer (Yale University, Harvard University)

Robert Toombs 1810–1885

Georgia politician and key figure in forming the Confederacy

Attended until 1828

Also attended: University of Georgia, University of Virginia-Main Campus

Robert P. Patterson 1891–1952

Former U.S. Secretary of War and federal judge

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1912

Also attended: Harvard University

Child: Robert P. Patterson, Jr. (Harvard University, Columbia University in the City of New York)

John T. Hoffman 1828–1888

Governor of New York and Mayor of New York City

Attended until 1846

Joseph M. Carey 1845–1924

Wyoming politician and governor

Also attended: University of Pennsylvania

Child: Robert D. Carey (Yale University)

Ira Harris 1802–1875

U.S. senator from New York and Lincoln's friend

Attended until 1824

Anderson Mazoka 1943–2006

Zambian politician, leader of the UPND

Attended until 1969

George Wilbur Peck 1840–1916

17th governor of Wisconsin

Charles Emory Smith 1842–1908

Journalist, diplomat and political leader

Attended until 1861

Henry Rathbone 1837–1911

Army officer present at Lincoln's assassination

Victor H. Fazio 1942–2022

U.S. Representative from California, 1979–1999

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1965

Also attended: California State University-Sacramento

John Bigelow 1817–1911

Diplomat and lawyer, minister to France

Attended until 1835

Child: John Bigelow, Jr. (The United States Military Academy at West Point)

Child: Poultney Bigelow (Yale University, Columbia University in the City of New York)

George Westinghouse 1846–1914

Inventor, engineer and industrialist

James Roosevelt 1828–1900

Businessman, father of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Also attended: Harvard University

Spouse: Sara Delano Roosevelt (Harvard University)

Child: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Harvard University, Columbia University in the City of New York)

Leonard Jerome 1817–1891

Financier and maternal grandfather of Winston Churchill

Attended until 1839

Also attended: Princeton University

Armand V. Feigenbaum 1922–2014

Quality control expert who devised Total Quality Control

Attended until 1942

Also attended: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Alan F. Horn 1943–

Disney Studios executive, former Warner Bros. president

Attended until 1964

Also attended: Harvard University

Baruch Samuel Blumberg 1925–2011

1976 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine

Attended until 1946

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Lewis H. Morgan 1818–1881

Anthropologist known for kinship and social evolution

Attended until 1840

Gordon Gould 1920–2005

Physicist credited with inventing the laser

Bachelor of Science · Class of 1941

Also attended: Yale University, Columbia University in the City of New York

John Ostrom 1928–2005

Paleontologist who revolutionized understanding of dinosaurs

Bachelor of Science · Class of 1951

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Henry Schoolcraft 1793–1864

Geographer and ethnologist of Native American cultures

Also attended: Middlebury College

Charles Horton Peck 1833–1917

Mycologist and New York State Botanist

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1859

Franklin Henry Giddings 1855–1931

Sociologist, economist and journalist

Attended until 1877

Hannibal Goodwin 1822–1900

Inventor of transparent flexible roll film

Attended until 1848

George Stibitz 1904–1995

Bell Labs researcher and digital computer pioneer

Attended until 1927

Also attended: Cornell University, Denison University

Edward Tuckerman 1817–1886

Botanist and lichen researcher at Amherst College

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1837

Also attended: Harvard University

Charles Christopher Parry 1823–1890

British-American botanist and mountaineer

Attended until 1842

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Arnold Mindell 1940–2024

Author and therapist in transpersonal psychology

Bachelor's degree · Class of 1962

Also attended: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Union Institute and University

Steven Zaloga 1952–

Military historian and author

Attended until 1973

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Martin Jay 1944–

Intellectual historian at UC Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1965

Also attended: Harvard University

Job Bicknell Ellis 1829–1905

Pioneering North American mycologist

Lewis Caleb Beck 1798–1853

Physician, botanist, chemist and mineralogist

Master of Arts · Class of 1815

David Murray 1830–1905

Educator and government adviser in Meiji Japan

Alfred Sommer 1942–

Ophthalmologist and epidemiologist known for vitamin A research

Bachelor of Science · Class of 1963

Also attended: Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University

Edward Bellamy 1850–1898

Author of the utopian novel Looking Backward

Jeffrey DeMunn 1947–

Actor in The Shawshank Redemption

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1969

Ben Schwartz 1981–

Actor and voice of Sonic the Hedgehog

Attended until 2003

Rawson Marshall Thurber 1975–

Filmmaker, director of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Attended until 1997

Also attended: University of Southern California

Lee Tracy 1898–1968

Stage, film and television actor

Phil Alden Robinson 1950–

Director of Field of Dreams and Sneakers

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1971

George DiCenzo 1940–2010

Film, television and stage actor

Attended until 1962

Robert Chartoff 1933–2015

Film producer and philanthropist

Attended until 1955

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

John Howard Payne 1791–1852

Actor, poet and playwright

Andrea Barrett 1954–

Novelist and National Book Award winner

Bachelor of Arts · Class of 1974

David Markson 1927–2010

Novelist

Attended until 1950

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

William Elliot Griffis 1843–1928

Orientalist, Congregational minister and author

Child: Stanton Griffis (Cornell University)

Fitz Hugh Ludlow 1836–1870

Author of The Hasheesh Eater

Attended until 1856

Henry James, Sr. 1811–1882

Theologian and father of William James

Attended until 1830

Child: William James (Harvard University)

Child: Henry James (Harvard University)

Nikki Stone 1971–

Olympic freestyle skier

Attended until 1995

Also attended: University of Utah

Daniel Carr 1991–

Canadian professional ice hockey forward

Spencer Foo 1994–

Chinese Canadian professional ice hockey forward

Jeremy Welsh 1988–

Canadian professional ice hockey player

Josh Jooris 1990–

Canadian professional ice hockey player

Troy Grosenick 1989–

Ice hockey goaltender, formerly with Minnesota Wild