Notable Alumni

From politics and public service, to business and the creative arts, Hiram College has a long legacy of excellence in preparing its students to lead and make their mark on the world, using their time and resources to leave it a better place than before. The following are just some of the College’s many notable alumni:

1852

James A. Garfield

James A. Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States. Before becoming President, Garfield served his country during the Civil War, where we rose to the rank of Major General. Garfield was the second principal of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute and was instrumental in paving the way for the Eclectic Institute to achieve full collegiate status as Hiram College in 1867. His varied and distinguished career included capable and outstanding service as a preacher, educator, lawyer, soldier, legislator and scholar.

1855

Lucretia Garfield

Lucretia Garfield was the wife of James A. Garfield and daughter of Zeb Rudolph, a farmer and co-founder of the Western Eclectic Institute, and Arabella Mason Rudolph.

1856

Benjamin D. Pritchard

Benjamin Pritchard was a United States Army officer that was most known for leading the Union cavalry regiment that captured the president of the Confederate States in the closing of the Civil War. Pritchard organized the First National Bank of Allegan and was the President of it until 1905, where he founded the First State Bank, which was the first bank in the country to be anointed as a state depository.

1868

Osee M. Hall

Osee Hall was a politician and the Minnesota state congressman in the United States House of Representative from 1891-1895.

1881

John J. Whitacre

John Whitacre was a member of the United States House of Representatives for Ohio from 1911-1915.

1892

Allyn Abbott Young

Allyn Young is a celebrated economist who graduated from Hiram at age 16. Young is the youngest graduate on record.

1894

Augustus Heman Pettibone

Augustus was a politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 1st Congressional District of Tennessee from 1897-1899.

1898

John Samuel Kenyon

John Kenyon was a linguist who wrote a pronouncing dictionary which is still regarded as a classic guide to American pronunciation. Kenyon taught at Hiram College as a professor of English from 1916-1944.

1900

Vachel Lindsay

Vachel Lindsay was an American poet and founder of modern singing poetry.

1915

Galen Roush

Galen was the founder of the Roadway Corporation.

1916

Miner Searle Bates

Miner Bates became one of the leaders of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone in World War II. He was appointed as Vice President of Nanking University in 1938 and served in this role until 1941. Throughout his years in Japan he challenged the Japanese authorities fearlessly and was summoned as a witness in the Tokyo Trials after the war.

1917

Ammon Hennacy

Ammon Hennacy was a Christian Pacifist, an activist, and was influential in the Catholic Worker movement. Hennacy founded the “Joe Hill House” for the homeless and indigent after working with homeless people in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1936

Robert O. Fishel

Former Executive Vice President/Media Relations of the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs

Allyn Vine

Scientist for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and he helped design Alvin, the mini-sub that located the Titanic shipwreck.

1940

William Kelly

A leader in the industry of animal nutrition, William developed Bil-Jac dog food.

1951

James (Jim) Lucas

James Lucas was a nationally renowned opera composer directed productions with performers such as Luciano Pavarotti and Roberta Peters. While working for the IU Opera Theatre, Lucas directed 39 operas including Otello starring James King as well as the world premiere of John Eaton’s The Cry of Clytaemnestra.

1953

Tom Wesselmann

Tom Wesselmann was an artist associated with the Pop Art movement who used the mediums of painting, collage, and sculpture.

1954

(Lawrence) David Bell

David Bell began as a documentary filmmaker where he produces medical, police and social issue films for broadcast and cable networks, such as A&E, David is credits to produce, A Killer Among Us and Do You Remember Love.

1956

Derk Zimmerman

Former Senior Vice President of New Ventures/CBS.

1957

Bill White

Bill White is a former first baseman for the New York and San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies. After his baseball career ended, White became a full-time sportscaster for the New York Yankees television and radio broadcasts, serving 18 years as a play-by-play man and color analyst. In 1989 he was elected President of the National League and served in this role until 1994.

1958

Andrew Stofan

Former Associate Administrator to the NASA Space Station Project and former Director of the Lewis Space Center.

1962

Carl Freidrich Dreisbach (Fritz)

Fritz Dreisbach is a studio glass artist and a teacher who taught for 35-years at 130 institutions worldwide. Dreisbach is recognized as one of the pioneers of the American Studio Glass Movement.

1965

James Kirby Martin

James Martin is a historian and professor of History at the University of Houston. Martin is known for writings on various aspects of social history and American military, especially the American Revolution. Martin advises Talon Films on historical issues and has also appeared on televisions programs on the History Channel.

1967

Claude Steele

Claude Steele is a social psychologist and had an impressive career working in higher education where he began teaching at Stanford University and ended as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sharon Creech

Sharon Creech is a writer of HarperCollins Children’s Books. Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Awards received by her books are not just in the U.S., but also from abroad. She was received awards including the Newbery Medal, the Newbery Honor and the Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal.

1968

Barbara London

Assistant Curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Barbara also founded the first museum-based video program in the country. 

1969

Jan Hopkins

Jan Hopkins is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning journalist who is also a former anchor and correspondent at CNN. Before CNN she worked for ABC World News Tonight, CBS and other radio and television stations in Ohio. Hopkins is a past President of the Economic Club of New York, where she was the first woman to take this position. Hopkins founded The Jan Hopkins Group in 2005, a company specializing in deepening relationships with clients through strategic communications and marketing.

Lance Liotta

Researcher at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. 

1970

Michael Stanley

Michael Stanley is a musician, singer-songwriter and a radio personality who began his career playing bass with Silk in the late 60’s. In the early 70’s, Stanley released two solo albums but then formed the Michael Stanley Band in 1975. The Michael Stanley Band had many hits before breaking up in 1987.

1971

Larry Bouts

Owner of Bedrock Exploration and Development. 

1974

J. Kevin McMahon

J Kevin McMahon is currently the President/Chief Executive Officer of the Pittsburgh Trust for Cultural Resources. McMahon is only the second President of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and he currently teaches as an adjunct professor for the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University.

1975

Mark W. Spong

Mark Spong is a roboticist who serves as the Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Spong is currently a professor of Systems Engineering as well as a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UT Dallas.

1977

Dean Scarborough

Dean A. Scarborough retired as chairman and chief executive officer of Avery Dennison Corporation in 2017. He had been chief executive officer since May 2005 and chairman since April 2010. In addition, he served as the company’s president from May 2000 through October 2014.

1986

William (Bill) Moran

William Moran is currently the Vice President/Sr. Financial Advisor of Merrill Lynch. Moran co-founded the company’s National LGBT Financial Services Team which provides financial services that are customized to the LGBTQ community members and business owners.

Todd McKenney

Todd McKenney serves as a Judge at both Common Pleas and Barberton Municipal Court. McKenney has served his community by being appointed Judge for a variety of different aspects.

Randall Dearth 

President and CEO of Lanxess Corporation.