List of Brooklyn College alumni

See also: Category:Brooklyn College alumni

This is a list of alumni of Brooklyn College, a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Academia

Donald Kagan

Jack B. Weinstein

• Walter Adams (B.A. 1942), economist and President of Michigan State University
• Joyce Sparer Adler (B.A. 1935), critic, playwright, teacher and Melville scholar
• William Alfred (B.A. 1948), playwright and professor of English literature at Harvard University
• David Bakan (B.A. 1942), Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and York University
• Jerome H. Barkow (B.A. 1964), Canadian anthropologist at Dalhousie University, has made important contributions to the field of evolutionary psychology
• Robert A. Baron (B.A. 1964), Professor of Psychology and Wellington Professor of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lally School of Management
• Samuel Baskin (B.A. 1942), psychologist and educational reformer and first president of the Union Institute & University
• Anatole Beck (B.A. 1951), mathematician, known for his Linear search problem
• Evelyn Torton Beck (B.A. 1954), scholar and activist who specializes in Women’s Studies, Jewish Women’s Studies, and Lesbian Studies.
• Joseph Berger (B.A. 1949), theoretical sociologist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
• Barbara Aronstein Black (B.A. 1953), Dean, Columbia University School of Law
• Zvi Bodie (B.A. 1965), Boston University Professor of Management and expert in pension finance
• Leo Bogart (B.A 1941), sociologist, media and marketing expert
• Eva Brann (B.A. 1950), longest-serving tutor (1957–present) at St. John's College, Annapolis and a 2005 recipient of the National Humanities Medal
• Alexander Calandra (B.A 1935), scientist, educator, and author, professor of physics at Washington University in Saint Louis
• Jules Chametzky (B.A. 1950), literary critic, writer, editor, and unionist
• Jonathan Chaves (B.A. 1965), Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the George Washington University and translator of Classical Chinese poetry
• Jules Coleman (B.A. 1968), scholar of law and jurisprudence and the Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld Professor of Jurisprudence and Professor of Philosophy at Yale Law School
• Frank J. Coppa (B.A. 1960], American historian, author, and educator who has written widely on the Papacy
• Patricia Cronin (M.F.A. 1995), Rome Prize-winning feminist visual artist.
• Michael S. Cullen (B.A. 1962), American historian, journalist and publicist, based in Berlin; credited with inspiring Christo and Jeanne-Claude to wrap the Reichstag
• Doris Malkin Curtis (B.S. 1933), American paleontologist, stratigrapher, geologist and first woman president of the Geological Society of America
• Jules Davids (B.A. 1942), Professor of Diplomatic History at Georgetown University, aided John F. Kennedy in writing Profiles in Courage
• Paul Davidson (B.S. 1950), American macroeconomist who has been one of the leading spokesmen of the American branch of the Post Keynesian school in economics
• Alan M. Dershowitz (B.A. 1959), Harvard Law School professor and author
• Dorothy Dinnerstein (B.A. 1943), feminist academic and activist
• Theodore Draper (B.A. 1933), American historian and political writer; wrote seminal works on the formative period of the American Communist Party, the Cuban Revolution, and the Iran-Contra Affair
• Melvyn Dubofsky (B.A. 1955), professor of history and sociology at the Binghamton University, and a well-known labor historian
• Yaffa Eliach (B.A. 1967), historian, author, and scholar of Judaic Studies and the Holocaust
• Charles Epstein (B.A. 1978), counseling psychologist; NYC hypnotherapist
• Helen Fein (B.A. 1955), historical sociologist, professor, specialized on genocide, human rights, collective violence and other issues
• Sandra Feldman (B.A 1960), President, American Federation of Teachers
• Aryeh Frimer (B.A. 1968), Professor of Chemistry at Bar-Ilan University
• Herbert J. Freudenberger (B.A. 1952), psychologist, first to describe the symptoms of exhaustion professionally and conduct a comprehensive study on burnout
• John A. Garraty (B.A. 1941), historian, biographer, and president of the Society of American Historians
• Eugene Genovese (B.A. 1953), historian of the American South and American slavery
• Stephen Gillers (B.A. 1964), New York University School of Law professor and expert in legal ethics
• Stuart D. Goldman (B.A. 1964) is an American historian, author, and scholar in residence at the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC
• David L. Goodstein (B.S. 1960), U.S. physicist, educator, and Vice-provost of the California Institute of Technology
• Allan Gotthelf (B.A. 1963), professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh and specialist in Objectivism and Aristotle
• Alfred Gottschalk (B.A. 1952), President of Hebrew Union College and leader in the Reform Judaism movement
• Greg Grandin (B.A. 1991), American historian; professor of history at New York University; finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History
• Martin Haberman(B.A. 1953), educator and Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee who developed interviewing techniques for identifying teachers and principals who will be successful in working with poor children.
• Dennis Hale (M.A. 1969), political scientist; Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston College
• Oscar Handlin (B.A. 1934), Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University; winner of the Pulitzer Prize in history, author
• Milton Heumann (B.A. 1968), Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University
• Linda Heywood (B. A. 1973), professor of African American studies and history at the University of Boston
• Raul Hilberg (B.A. 1948), Austrian-born American political scientist and historian, author of The Destruction of the European Jews (1961)
• Gertrude Himmelfarb (B.A. 1942), historian and conservative cultural critic
• Eli Hirsch (B.A. 1960), philosopher, the Charles Goldman Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University
• Zoia Horn (B.A. 1939), first librarian ever jailed for refusing to divulge information that violated her belief in intellectual freedom
• Paul Ilie (B.A. 1954), specialist in modern and contemporary Spanish literature
• Elisheva Carlebach Jofen (B.A. 1976), scholar of early modern Jewish history
• Donald Kagan (B.A. 1954), historian; Dean at Yale University
• Louise Kaplan (B.A. 1950), American psychologist and psychoanalyst best known for her research into sexual perversion and fetishism
• Saul Kassin (B.A. 1974), psychologist, author, and distinguished professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York
• Israel Kirzner (B.A. 1954), economist
• Eva Kollisch (B.A. 1951), writer, literary scholar, pacifist and feminist
• Annette Kolodny (B.A. 1962), feminist literary critic and activist
• Melvin Konner (B.A. 1966), Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Emory University
• David Kranzler (B.A. 1953), historian specializing in those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust
• Sheldon Krimsky (B.S. 1963), Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University
• David Laibman (M.A. 1969), Professor Emeritus of Economics at Brooklyn College; Editor of Science & Society
• Jeffrey Laitman (B.A. 1973), anatomist and physical anthropologist, Distinguished Professor of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, President-Elect of the American Association of Anatomists
• Sandra Leiblum (B.A. 1965), author, lecturer, and researcher in sexology
• Harvey Lichtenstein, (B.A. 1951), President and Executive Producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music
• Omar Lizardo (B.A. 1997), sociologist and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame
• Christia Mercer (B.A. 1974), Gustave M. Berne Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University
• Allen R Miller (B.S. 1965), mathematician and major contributor to the field of special functions, especially confluent hypergeometric functions
• Seymour M. Miller (B.A. 1943), economic-political sociologist, activist, and emeritus professor of sociology at Boston University
• Sidney Mintz (B.A. 1943), anthropologist, known for his studies of Latin America and the Caribbean
• Leonard Mirman (B.A. 1963)) Mathematician and economist at the University of Virginia, known for his contributions to economics of uncertainty
• Barry Munitz (B.A. 1963), chancellor, California State University (1991–98)
• Cindy Nemser (B.A. 1959, M.A. 1964), art historian and writer; founder and editor of the Feminist Art Journal
• Jay Newman (B.A. 1973), philosopher concerned with the philosophy of religion, philosophy of culture, and the ethics of mass communication
• Mary Noe (B.A. 1982), educator; writer; lecturer; Assistant Professor of Law, division of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, St. John's University
• John Parascandola (B.A. 1963), medical historian
• Alan W. Pollack (B.A. 1970), musicologist, known for having musically analyzed every Beatles song released
• Richard M. Pollack (B.A. 1956), geometer and Professor Emeritus at the Courant Institute of New York University; founding co-editor of the journal Discrete and Computational Geometry
• Ellen Prince (B.A. 1964), linguist; President of the Linguistic Society of America; pioneer in linguistic pragmatics
• Dennis Raphael (B.S. 1972), health policy professor at York University in Toronto
• Irving Reiner (B.A. 1944), mathematician, dealt with representation theory of algebras and groups, and number theory
• Stuart A. Rice (B.S. 1952), physical chemist at the University of Chicago
• Moses Rischin (B.A. 1947), United States Jewish historian and Emeritus Professor of History at San Francisco State University
• Leanne Rivlin (B.A. 1952), pioneer in environmental psychology
• Theodore J. Rivlin (B.A. 1948), American mathematician, specializing in approximation theory
• Milton Rokeach (B.A. 1941), professor of social psychology and developer of the Rokeach Value Survey
• Julian Rotter (B.A. 1937), psychologist, pioneered research on locus of control
• Jack M. Sasson (B.A. 1962), emeritus Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt Divinity School whose research focuses primarily on Assyriology and Hebrew Scriptures
• Ben-Ami Scharfstein (B.A. 1939), prominent Israeli philosopher; winner of the 2005 Israel Prize
• Israel Scheffler (B.A. 1945), philosopher of science and education
• Steven Schwartz (B.A. 1967), Vice Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia
• Marjorie Shostak (B.A. 1966), anthropologist; specialist in the !Kung San people of the Kalahari desert in south-western Africa
• Joel H. Silbey (B.A. 1955), American historian and President White Professor of History at Cornell University
• Richard Slotkin (B.A. 1963), cultural critic and historian of the Western United States
• Richard J. Smith (B.A. 1969), Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished Professor of Physical Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis
• Donald Solitar (B.A. 1953), American and Canadian mathematician, known for his work in combinatorial group theory
• Maynard Solomon (B.A. 1950), co-founder of Vanguard Records, music producer, and musicologist
• Lisa Staiano-Coico, aka Lisa S. Coico, (B.S. 1976), president of City College of New York
• Salvatore J. Stolfo (B.S. 1974), professor of computer science at Columbia University and a leading expert in computer security
• Robert S. Stone (BA 1942), pioneering pathologist; university dean; Director of The National Institutes of Health 1973–1975
• Clarence Taylor (B.A. 1975), professor emeritus of History at Baruch College and author of books on racism, religion, and civil rights in 20th-century America
• Hans Toch (B.A. 1952), prolific author and social psychologist involved in criminology and criminal justice administration
• Frank P. Tomasulo (B.A. 1967), film professor, author, and academic administrator at Ithaca College, Georgia State University, Southern Methodist University, and Florida State University; Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Film & Video and Cinema Journal
• Henry Wallman (B.S. 1933), mathematician, known for his work in lattice theory, dimension theory, topology, and electronic circuit design
• Gerard Washnitzer (B.S. 1947), mathematician
• Regina Weinreich (B.A. 1970), writer, journalist, teacher, and scholar of the artists of the Beat Generation
• Jack B. Weinstein (B.A. 1943), Columbia Law School professor and Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• Aaron Wildavsky (B.A. 1954), political scientist
• Joel B. Wolowelsky (B.S. 1967) is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, professor, author, and dean of faculty at the Yeshiva of Flatbush high school
• Beatrice A. Wright (B.A. 1938), psychologist known for her work in rehabilitation counseling
• Frieda Zames (B.A. 1954), disability rights activist and mathematics professor
• Donald P. Zingale (B.A. 1967), president of the State University of New York at Cobleskill

Business

• Fred Bass (B.A. 1949), current owner of New York City's Strand Bookstore
• Charles Biderman (B.A. 1967), founder and CEO of TrimTabs Investment Research, Inc.
• Joseph Cassano (B.A. 1977), head of Financial Product division at American International Group 1987–2008
• Bruce Chizen (B.S. 1978), President and CEO of Adobe Systems
• Bernard Cornfeld (B.A. 1950), businessman and international financier, sold investments in mutual funds
• Benjamin Eisenstadt (B.A. 1954), creator of Sweet'N Low and the founder of Cumberland Packing Corporation
• Irwin Federman (B.S. 1956), businessman, philanthropist and General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners
• Jerry Della Femina (A.A. 1957), Chairman and CEO, Della Femina, Jeary and Partners
• Robert M. Kaufman (B.A. 1951), New York City attorney, a partner with the law firm Proskauer Rose, and a former president of the New York City Bar Association
• Richard LaMotta (B.A. 1969), inventor and principal promoter of the Chipwich ice cream sandwich
• Jerry Moss (B.A. 1957), co-founder of A&M Records
• Jay Neveloff (B.A.1971), American real estate lawyer known for representing Donald Trump and his companies.
• Ira Rennert (B.A. 1955), investor and businessman
• Steve Riggio (B.A. 1974), CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
• George H. Ross (B.A. 1951), Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel of the Trump Organization
• Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer Deloitte, member of Deloitte's U.S. Board of Directors, the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Global Executive Committee, the DTT Global Board of Directors, Deloitte LLP
• Charlie Shrem (B.A. 2012), co-founder and CEO of the Bitcoin startup company BitInstant
• Agnes Varis (B.A. 1950), President and founder of Agvar Chemicals Inc. and Aegis Pharmaceuticals
• Lester Wunderman(B.A. 1938), advertising executive considered the creator of modern-day direct marketing
• Walter Yetnikoff (B.A. 1955), Columbia Records/Sony Music executive
• Sigi Ziering (B.S. 1953), German-born American business executive, playwright and philanthropist

Entertainment

Paul Mazursky

Jimmy Smits

• Letty Aronson (B.A. 1964), film producer; sister of Woody Allen
• Obba Babatundé (B.A. 1974), Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actor
• Sandy Baron (B.A. 1957), comedian, stage, film, and television actor
• Sarah Benson (M.F.A.), theatre director, artistic director of SoHo Rep
• Benjamin Bierman (M.M. 2002), Jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader
• Susan Birkenhead (B.A. 1957), lyricist
• Alvin Boretz (B.A. 1942), television writer for GE Theater, Playhouse 90, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Dr. Kildare, The Defenders, and Kojak
• Benjamin Boretz (B.A. 1954), 20th- and 21st-century composer and music theorist
• Oscar Brand (B.S. 1942), folk singer, radio host, musicologist
• Henry Chan (M.S. 1973), film and television director
• Jordan Charney (B.A. 1961), character actor
• Dominic Chianese (B.A. 1961), film, television and theatre actor, known for his role as Corrado "Junior" Soprano on the HBO TV series The Sopranos
• Isidore Cohen (B.A 1941), chamber musician, violinist, and member of the Juilliard String Quartet and Beaux Arts Trio
• Alex Coletti (B.A. 1987), executive producer and director for MTV Networks, now an independent producer
• Jon Cypher (B.A. 1953), actor, known for his role as Chief of Police Fletcher Daniels in the police drama Hill Street Blues
• Eddie Daniels (B.A. 1963) American, jazz clarinet and alto and tenor saxophone player; also a classical music clarinetist
• Alfred Drake (B.A. 1936), musical theater actor and singer
• Rebekah Driscoll (M.M. 2012), composer
• Sylvia Fine (B.A. 1933), lyricist; wife of comedian Danny Kaye
• James Franco (M.F.A. 2010), film and TV actor, author
• Richard Frankel (B.A. 1968), six-time Tony Award-winning theatrical producer
• Devery Freeman (B.A. 1935), prolific screenwriter, novelist and union activist who helped to establish the Writers Guild of America
• Gary William Friedman (B.A. 1958), musician and composer of musical theater
• Takeshi Fukunaga (B.A. 2007), Japanese filmmaker; Out of My Hand
• Daniel Glass (B.A. 1977), music industry producer
• Philip S. Goodman (B.A. 1948), screenwriter, producer, and director
• Henry Gross (B.A. 1972), singer-songwriter and founding member of the retro pop group Sha Na Na
• Erica Hayden (M.A. 2008), radio personality, television host and psychotherapist
• Fred Hellerman (B.A. 1949), folk singer, guitarist, producer and songwriter, primarily known as one of the members of The Weavers
• C. Bernard Jackson (B.A. 1948), playwright who founded the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles
• Cihan Kaan (B.S. 1999), musician; filmmaker; author; recorded electronic music under the alias "8Bit"
• Marvin Kaplan (B.A. 1947), character actor, president of Los Angeles chapter of American Federation of Television and Radio Artists 1989–95; 2003–05
• Robert Kerman (B.A. 1970), actor
• Kim Ji-hyun, South Korean singer
• Woodie King, Jr. (M.F.A. 1999), director and producer of stage and screen, and founding director of the New Federal Theatre
• Mousa Kraish (B.A. 1998), actor and director
• Tuli Kupferberg (B.A. 1948), counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, pacifist anarchist, publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs
• Jean-Claude La Marre (B.A. 1992), Haitian-American writer, director, and film and television actor
• Obafemi Lasode (M.A. 1984), Nigerian veteran film actor, songwriter, playwright, film producer and director
• Ken Lerner (B.A. 1970), television and film actor
• Michael Lerner (B.A. 1962), Academy Award-nominated actor
• Michael Lynne (B.A. 1961), co-founder New Line Cinema
• Steve Malzberg (B.A. 1982), conservative radio broadcaster and host of The Steve Malzberg Show on the WOR Radio Network
• Bob Margolis (B.A. 1974, M.M. 1977), composer of concert music and owner of Manhattan Beach Music Publishers
• Paul Mazursky (B.A. 1951), Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, known for An Unmarried Woman, Harry and Tonto and Down and Out in Beverly Hills, among others; producer; actor
• Neil Meron (B.A. 1976), film producer, won Academy Award for Chicago in 2003
• Jared Mezzocchi (M.F.A. 2009), multimedia theater director, theatrical designer
• Oren Moverman (B.A. 1992), Academy Award-nominated filmmaker
• Gladys Smuckler Moskowitz (B.A. 1949), folk singer (as Gladys Young), composer and teacher
• Jerry Moss (B.A., 1957), co-founder of A & M Records
• Larry Namer (B.A. 1971), founder of E! Entertainment TV Network
• Sonny Ochs (B.A. 1970), music producer, radio host, sister of singer-songwriter Phil Ochs
• Arturo O'Farrill (BMus 1996), jazz musician and current pianist, composer, and director for the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
• Eric Overmyer (M.F.A. 1982), television writer and producer; The Wire
• Lee Pockriss (B.A. 1948), songwriter who wrote many well-known popular songs, including "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"
• Doc Pomus (attended, 1943–45), blues singer, songwriter and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Gil Portes (M.S. 1971), award-winning Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter
• Richard Portnow (B.A. 1967), actor, known for a recurring role in The Sopranos
• Dennis Prager (B.A. 1970), syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, author, ethicist, and public speaker
• Mark Rappaport (B.A. 1964), independent/underground film director
• David Rayfiel (B.A. 1947), screenwriter, frequent collaborator of director Sydney Pollack
• Richard Reicheg (BA 1962, MA 1973), actor, folk singer, and songwriter, known for the song "Looking for an Echo"
• Howard Rosenman (B.A. 1965), producer and motion picture executive
• Marc Salem (B.A. 1975), mentalist and mind reader
• Rafael Scarfullery (B.M. 1993), Dominican classical guitarist
• George Schindler (B.A. 1952), stage magician, magic consultant, and ventriloquist, "lifetime dean" of the Society of American Magicians
• Steve Schirripa (B.A. 1980), actor known for his role as Bobby Baccalieri on the HBO TV series The Sopranos
• Citizen Kafka (Richard Shulberg), (B.A. 1969), radio personality and folk musician
• Roger S. H. Schulman (B.A. 1980), film and television writer and producer, co-wrote the animated feature Shrek
• Stuart Seide (B.A. 1967), artistic director of the Théâtre du Nord in Lille, France, and the first American to direct the Comédie-Française
• Jimmy Smits (B.A. 1980), actor, NYPD Blue and L.A. Law; won Emmy Award in 1990
• Elliot Tiber (attended, but did not graduate), screenwriter, "saved" Woodstock Festival
• Tom Topor (B.A. 1961), playwright, screenwriter, and novelist
• Adam Wade (M.A. '87), singer, drummer and television actor, noted for his stint as the host of the 1975 CBS game show Musical Chairs, which made him the first African-American game show host
• Dirk Weiler (M.M. 2002), singer and actor
• Naren Weiss (M.F.A. 2015), actor, playwright, and model
• Andrew D. Weyman (B.A. 1973), television director and producer
• Fawn Yacker (B.A. 1973), founding member of The Nuclear Beauty Parlor, filmmaker, producer and cinematographer, known for her 2009 documentary Training Rules
• Joel Zwick (B.A. 1962), theater and television producer, Family Matters, director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Government, law, and public policy

Barbara Boxer

Shirley Chisholm

File:HLP2004.jpg

Harvey Pitt

Bernie Sanders

• Cy A Adler (B.A. 1950), president of Shorewalkers, Inc.; author, organizer and conservationist, advocate for shoreline issues in and around New York City
• Bill Baird (B.A. 1955), reproductive rights activist and co-director of the Pro Choice League
• Barbara P. Berman (B.A. 1959), American Democratic Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly for a single term, where she represented the 6th Legislative District from 1978 to 1980.
• Dorothy Blum (B.A. 1944), American computer scientist, cryptanalyst and National Security Agency officer
• Barbara Boxer (B.A. 1962), United States Representative and United States Senator (D – California)
• Benjamin Brafman (B.A. 1971), prominent criminal defense attorney
• Frank J. Brasco (B.A. 1955), member of the United States House of Representatives 1967–75
• Marshall Brement (BA 1951), career United States Foreign Service officer; United States Ambassador to Iceland 1981–1985
• George Carroll (B.A. 1943), American lawyer who was an important civic figure in Contra Costa County, California and the city of Richmond
• Shirley Chisholm (B.A. 1946), first African American U.S. Congresswoman, 1968–82
• Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed (B.S. 1973), educator and representative for District 92 of the Florida House of Representatives
• Manuel F. Cohen (B.S. 1933), Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission, 1964–69
• William Colton (MSed 1971), represents District 47 in the New York Assembly
• Victoria Cruz (B.A. 1982), an American LGBT rights activist and retired domestic violence counselor
• Donald J. Devine (M.A. 1965), political scientist; author; former director of the United States Office of Personnel Management
• Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel (B.A. 1952), author, preservationist, curator, and chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts
• Martin Malave Dilan (B.A. 1984), represents District 17 in the New York State Senate
• Patricia DiMango (B.A. 1973), television personality and former justice of the Supreme Court of Kings County, New York
• Stanley Fink (B.A. 1956), member of the New York State Assembly 1969–1986;Speaker 1979–1986
• David Friedman (B.A. 1971), Associate Justice of the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department
• Jay Goldberg (B.A. 1954) is a well-known American trial attorney in New York City, formerly a member of the Justice Department in the Kennedy administration
• Phillip Goldfeder (B.A. '04), Democratic New York State Assembly member from the borough of Queens, 2011–2016.
• Arthur Gonzalez (M.S. 1976), United States Bankruptcy Court Judge for the Southern District of New York, presided over the bankruptcy proceedings for WorldCom, Enron, and Chrysler
• Victor Gotbaum (B.A. 1948), labor leader
• Ari Harow (B.A. 2000) former Chief of Staff of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• Syed Fahad Hashmi (B.A. 2003), convicted terrorist
• Dov Hikind (M.A. 1981), New York State Assemblyman representing Brooklyn's Assembly District 48
• Rhoda Jacobs (BA 1962), represents District 42 in Brooklyn in the New York State Assembly, where she serves as Assistant Speaker
• Ellen Jaffee (B.A. 1965), represents District 55 in the [New York State Assembly
• Kimberly Jean-Pierre (B.F.A. 2006), represents the 11th Assembly District in the New York State Assembly
• Sterling Johnson, Jr. (B.A. 1963), senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York
• Roberta Kalechofsky (B.A. 1952), writer, feminist and animal rights activist; founder of Jews for Animal Rights
• Vera Katz (B.A. 1955), mayor, Portland, Oregon, 1993–2005
• Larry Kawa (B.S. 1987), American orthodontist and Republican political activist
• Edward R. Korman (B.A. 1963), Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• Ivan Lafayette (B.A. 1951), member of the New York State Assembly since 1977 and Deputy Speaker of the New York State Assembly since 2006
• Sy Landy (B.A. 1952), Trotskyist politician, co-founder of the League for the Revolutionary Party
• Mark Lane (J.D., 1951), attorney, author, researcher, and NY State Legislator (1961–62), critic of the Warren Commission's report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• Howard L. Lasher (B.A. 1965), New York State Assemblyman and New York City Councilman; first orthodox Jew elected to state office in New York
• Doris Ling-Cohan (B.A. 1976), judge on the New York State Supreme Court
• Mark Lowenthal (B.A. 1969), CIA's Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production 2002–2005, where he was a key coordinator and valuator of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq leading up to Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Alan Maisel (Adv. Cert. 1990), New York State Assemblyman representing District 59
• Marty Markowitz (B.A. 1970), New York State Senator; Brooklyn Borough President (2001–2013)
• George Martinez (B.A 1998), educator, activist, artist and hip-hop political pioneer
• Harvey R. Miller (B.A. 1954), bankruptcy lawyer
• Mel Miller (B.A. 1961), member of the New York State Assembly 1971-1991; Speaker 1987–1991
• Joan Millman (B.A. 1962), New York State Assemblywoman representing District 52
• Joseph Pennacchio (B.S. 1976), represents the 26th Legislative district in the New Jersey Senate
• N. Nick Perry (B.A. 1978), New York State Assemblyman representing District 58
• Harvey Pitt (B.A. 1965), Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
• Rosemary S. Pooler (B.A. 1959), Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Deborah Poritz (B.A. 1958), first female Chief Justice, New Jersey State Supreme Court; first female New Jersey Attorney General, 1994–96
• Robert Rosenthal (B.A. 1938), highly decorated World War II pilot and assistant to the U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
• Gene Russianoff (B.A. 1974), staff attorney and chief spokesman for the Straphangers Campaign, New York City-based public transport advocacy group
• Edward Sagarin (B.A. 1961), sociologist, pseudonymously wrote The Homosexual in America: A Subjective Approach (1951), considered one of the most influential works in the history of the gay rights movement
• John L. Sampson (B.A. 1987), represents District 19 in the New York State Senate where he serves in a leadership position as chairman of the Democratic Conference.
• Bernie Sanders (attended 1959-1960), United States Senator for Vermont
• James Sanders, Jr. (B.A. 1984), represents the 10th Senatorial District in the New York State Senate
• Sam Schwartz, aka "Gridlock Sam" (B.S. 1969), transportation engineer, believed responsible for popularizing the word gridlock
• Frank Serpico (A.A. 1959), New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer famous for testifying against police corruption
• Norman Siegel (B.A. 1965), director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), 1985–2000
• David Sive (B.A. 1943), an attorney, environmentalist, and professor of environmental law, who has been recognized as a pioneer in the field of United States environmental law
• Joel Harvey Slomsky (B.A. 1967), United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Eleanor Sobel (B.A. 1967), State Representative in the Florida House of Representatives, 1998–2006
• Pamela Talkin (B.S. 1968, M.A. 1971), Marshal of the Supreme Court of the United States and the first woman to hold this position
• William L. Taylor (B.A. 1952), attorney and civil rights advocate
• Seymour R. Thaler (B.A. 1940), member of the New York State Senate 1959-1971
• William C. Thompson (B.A. 1949), Brooklyn’s first African American State Senator; Justice of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
• Mark Treyger (B.A. 2005, M.A. 2009, M.S.Ed 2012), member of the New York City Council, representing District 47
• Beatrice N. Vaccara (B.A. 1943), American economist and economic statistician; head of the Bureau of Industrial Economics AT THE United States Department of Commerce
• Eliezer Waldman (B.A. 1959), Israeli rabbi and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Tehiya between 1984 and 1990
• Benjamin Ward (B.A. 1960), first African American New York City Police Commissioner, 1983–89
• Iris Weinshall (B.A. 1975), vice chancellor at the City University of New York and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation
• Moses M. Weinstein (B.A. 1934), lawyer and politician
• Warren Weinstein (B.A. 1963), contractor; director in Pakistan for J.E. Austin Associates kidnapped by al-Qaeda on August 13, 2011 and killed in a January 2015 by a US-led drone strike on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
• Saul Weprin (B.A. 1948), member of the New York State Assembly]1973-1994; Speaker 1991–1994
• Jumaane Williams (B.A. 2001, M.A. 2005), Democratic politician, member of the New York City Council
• Lynne Williams (M.A. 1975), Maine politician and former chairperson of the Maine Green Independent Party
• Bruce Winick (B.A. 1965), Professor of Law and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami and theorist on mental health law
• Stanley Yolles (b.a. 1939), American psychiatrist head of the National Institute of Mental Health from 1964-1970

Journalism

• Madeline Amgott (B.A. 1942), television news producer
• Charlotte Brooks (B.A. 1940), photographer and photojournalist
• Stu Bykofsky (B.A. 1965), journalist and columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News
• Thom Calandra (B.A. 1979), founding editor and chief columnist for CBS MarketWatch.com
• John Cigna (A.A. 1956), radio personality at KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh, 1973–2001
• Stan Fischler (B.A 1954). journalist, historian, hockey broadcaster, five-time Emmy award winner and Lester Patrick Award winner
• Sylvan Fox (B.A. 1951), journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Marc Frons (B.A. 1977), Chief Technology Officer of The New York Times
• Dele Giwa (B.A. 1977), Nigerian journalist, editor and founder of Newswatch magazine; killed by a mail bomb in his home on October 19, 1986
• Robert Greenfield (B.A. 1967), author, journalist and screenwriter
• Yossi Klein Halevi (B.A. 1975), Israeli journalist; columnist for The New Republic
• Charles Lachman (B.A. 1974), Executive Producer of the news magazine program Inside Edition
• Victor Lasky (B.A 1940), Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and syndicated newspaper columnist
• Victoria Law (B.A. 2002), anarchist activist, and writer; co-founder of Books Through Bars
• Don Lemon (B.A. 1996), news anchor, CNN
• Marvin E. Newman (B.A. 1949), artist and photographer
• Stanley Newman (B.S. 1973), puzzle creator, editor, and publisher
• Abraham Rabinovich (B.A. 1956), Israeli historian and journalist
• Milt Rosenberg (B.A. 1946), host of Extension 720 on WGN Radio in Chicago, Illinois.
• Harold Schonberg (B.A. 1937), Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic and journalist, most notably for The New York Times
• Allan Sloan (B.A. 1966), financial journalist; Senior Editor-at-Large for Fortune Magazine
• Dorothy Sucher [B.A. 1954], her reporting for a Maryland newspaper led to landmark Supreme Court case, Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Assn., Inc. v. Bresler, which the paper won; author
• Barry Sussman (B.A. 1956), editor, author, and public opinion analyst; city news editor at The Washington Post at the time of the Watergate break-in
• Maia Szalavitz (B.A. 1991), reporter, author of Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids
• Glenn Thrush (B.A. 1990), American journalist, pundit, and author. He has been the White House correspondent for The New York Times since 2017
• Gina Trapani (M.S 1998), tech blogger, web developer, writer and founder of the Lifehacker blog

Literature and the arts

Sam Levenson

Frank McCourt

Gloria Naylor

Peter Nero

• Cecile Abish (B.A. 1953), American artist known for sculpture and photography
• Sam Abrams (B.A. 1958), "The Old Pothead Poet", Rochester Institute of Technology professor, Whitman scholar
• Ann-Marie Adams (B.A. 2001), editor and publisher of The Hartford Guardian
• Jack Adler (B.A. 1942), award-winning cover artist and colorist for DC Comics
• Jack Agüeros (B.A. 1964), Puerto Rican community activist, poet, writer, translator, and director of the Museo del Barrio in New York City
• Saladin Ahmed (M.F.A. 2002), Arab-American science fiction and fantasy writer and poet
• Mario Amaya (B.A. 1954), art critic; shot by Valerie Solanas during her assassination attempt on Andy Warhol
• Suzanne Anker (B.A. 1967), American visual artist, theorist and pioneer in Bio Art
• Rilla Askew (M.F.A 1989), Oklahoma-based short story writer and novelist
• Helène Aylon (B.A. 1960), multimedia ecofeminist artist
• Jennifer Bartlett (M.A. 2004), American poet, editor, and disability activist
• Annie Baker (M.F.A. 2009), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
• Paul Beatty (M.F.A. 1989), African American poet, novelist, and critic
• Betty T. Bennett (B.A. 1962), scholar on the life of Frankenstein author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
• Eddie Berganza (B.A. 1986), Group Editor for DC Comics
• Karen Berger (B.A. 1979), editor of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint
• Anselm Berrigan (M.F.A. 1998), poet and teacher and artistic director of the St. Mark's Poetry Project from 2003–07
• Himan Brown (B.A. 1934), radio pioneer; producer of radio programming, including the Inner Sanctum Mysteries and the CBS Radio Mystery Theater
• Anatole Broyard (attended 1937–41, did not graduate), writer, literary critic and editor for The New York Times
• Allen Cohen (B.A. 1962), poet, founder and editor of the San Francisco Oracle underground newspaper (1966–68)
• Michael Corris (B.A. 1970), artist, art historian, and writer on art
• Patricia Cronin (M.F.A. 1988), Rome Prize-winning feminist visual artist
• Amanda Davis (M.F.A. 1998), writer; author of "Wonder When You'll Miss Me"
• J. M. DeMatteis (B.A. 1976), writer of comic books
• Dan DiDio (B.A. 1983), comic book editor and executive for DC Comics
• Sante D'Orazio (B.A. 1978), fashion photographer
• Hillard Elkins (B.A. 1950), theatre and film producer
• Stanley Ellin (B.A. 1936), Edgar Award-winning mystery author
• Yevgeniy Fiks (B.F.A. 1997), multidisciplinary, Post-Soviet conceptual artist
• Jane Freilicher (B.A. 1947), representational painter and member of the informal New York School
• Robert Friend (B.A. 1934), Israeli poet and translator
• Alice Friman (B.A. 1954), poet; Poet-in-Residence at Georgia College
• Gregory William Frux (M.F.A. 1985), traditional realist artist, working mainly in the landscape genre
• Elizabeth Gaffney (M.F.A. 1997), novelist and staff editor of The Paris Review, 1989–2005
• Mike Garson (B.A. 1970), pianist; has worked with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan, Free Flight, and The Smashing Pumpkins
• Joe Glazer (B.A. 1938), folk musician often referred to as "labor's troubadour"
• David Gordon (B.F.A. 1956), dancer, choreographer, theatre director, writer
• Shirley Gorelick (B.A. 1944), painter of psychological realism
• Richard Grayson (B.A. 1973, M.F.A. 1976), writer, political activist and performance artist
• Roya Hakakian (B.S. 1990), Jewish Iranian-American writer
• John Harlacher (B.A. 2000), actor, stage director, and filmmaker responsible for the horror film Urchin (2007)
• Irving Harper (B.A. 1937), noted 20th-century industrial designer
• Michelle Herman (B.A. 1976), American writer and Professor of English at Ohio State University, and director of the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing
• Lee Israel (B,A, 1961), noted author who became a literary forger and thief
• Chester Kallman (B.A. 1941), poet, librettist, and translator; collaborator with W. H. Auden
• Howard Kaminsky (B.A. 1961), an American publisher, author and film producer
• Karen Karnes (B.A. 1946), ceramist, known for her earth-toned stoneware ceramics
• Ben Katchor (B.A. 1975), cartoonist, creator of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer
• Ada Katz (B.S. 1950), wife and model of Alex Katz
• Sibyl Kempson (M.F.A. 2007), playwright and performer
• Daniel Keyes (B.A. 1950. M.A. '61), author known for his Hugo award-winning short story and Nebula award-winning novel Flowers for Algernon
• Amirtha Kidambi (M.M. 2012), Jazz musician (vocal, harmonium, composition)
• Binnie Kirshenbaum (M.F.A. 1984), novelist, short story writer, Columbia University creative writing professor
• Sibyl Kempson (M.F.A. 2007), American playwright and performer
• Frances Kornbluth (B.A. 1940), abstract expressionist painter
• Marni Kotak (M.F.A. 2006), artist known for her durational performance/exhibition “The Birth of Baby X,” in which she gave birth to her son
• Margia Kramer (B.A. 1961), American documentary visual artist, writer and activist
• Albert Kresch (B.A. 1943), New York School painter and one of the original members of the Jane Street Gallery
• Mort Künstler (B.A. 1946), painter and illustrator of the American Civil War
• Ezra Laderman (B.A. 1950), composer of classical music
• Gabriel Laderman (B.A. 1952), painter and important exponent of the Figurative revival
• Young Jean Lee (M.F.A. 2005), OBIE Award-winning playwright and director of experimental theater, Artistic Director of Young Jean Lee's Theater Company
• Alan Lelchuk (B.A. 1960), novelist
• Sam Levenson (B.A. 1934), humorist, author
• Fred Lonberg-Holm (B.M. 1988), cello player and composer
• Leonard Lopate (B.A. 1967), host of the public radio talk show The Leonard Lopate Show, broadcast on WNYC
• Robert Lyons (M.F.A. 2010), American writer, playwright and director, best known as the artistic director the two-time OBIE Award-winning New Ohio Theatre in New York City
• Jackson Mac Low (B.A. 1958), poet, performance artist, composer and playwright
• John Mahon (B.A. 1952), historian, Author of New York's Fighting 69th
• Wallace Markfield (B.A. 1947), comic novelist, film critic
• Paule Marshall (B.A. 1953), author, novelist (Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959), Praisesong for the Widow (1983))
• Cris Mazza (M.F.A. 1983), novelist, short story and non-fiction writer
• Frank McCourt (M.A. 1967), Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis
• Dennis McFarland (B.A. 1975), novelist; The Music Room (1990)
• Michael McKenzie (B.A. 1973), American artist, publisher, curator, and writer
• Murray Mednick (B.A. 1962), playwright
• Sharon Mesmer (M.F.A. 1990), writer and poet of the Flarf poetry movement
• Richard P. Minsky (B.A. 1968), American scholar of bookbinding and a book artist
• Emily Mitchell (M.F.A. 2005), Anglo-American novelist
• Gloria Naylor (B.A. 1981), novelist; Winner National Book Award
• Peter Nero (B.A. 1956), Grammy Award-winning pianist; conductor; composer
• Harold Norse (B.A. 1938), poet and novelist
• Marco Oppedisano (B.M. 1996), guitarist and composer of electroacoustic music
• Angelo Parra (M.F.A. 1995), playwright
• Benjamin Jason Parris (B.S. 1984), educator, museum planner, and author of fantasy series Wade of Aquitaine
• Lincoln Peirce (M.F.A. 1987), cartoonist of the comic strip Big Nate
• Jed Perl (M.F.A. 1974), American art critic, formerly with The New Republic from 1994-2014
• Robert Phillips (M.A. 1982), Classical guitarist, composer, educator, and Head of Performing Arts at All Saints' Academy
• Rosalie Purvis (M.F.A. 2007), Dutch American theatre director and choreographer
• Anna Rabinowitz (B.A. 1953), poet, librettist, editor and editor emerita of American Letters & Commentary
• Burton Raffel (B.A. 1948), teacher, poet and translator of Beowulf, Horace, Rabelais and Cervantes
• Naomi Ragen (B.A. 1971), American-Israeli author, playwright and women's rights activist
• Martha Rosler (B.A. 1965), artist active in video, photo-text, installation, and performance
• Norman Rosten (B.A. 1935), poet, playwright, novelist, Poet Laureate of Brooklyn (1979–1995)
• Matthue Roth (M.F.A. 2014), American columnist, author, poet, spoken word performer, video game designer, and screenwriter.
• Theodore Isaac Rubin (B.A. 1946), psychiatrist and author; wrote story for the film David and Lisa (1962)
• Howard Sackler (B.A. 1950), screenwriter and playwright, known for 1967 play The Great White Hope
• Kristina "Tina" Satter (M.F.A. 2008), a New York City-based playwright and director
• Sapphire (M.F.A. 1995), author and performance poet, author of the novel Push (1996)
• Millicent Selsam (B.A. 1932), children's author
• Irwin Shaw (B.A. 1934), playwright, screenwriter, and short-story author and novelist (The Young Lions, Rich Man, Poor Man); winner of two O. Henry Awards
• Sara Shepard (M.F.A. 2005), author known for the bestselling Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game book series; both were developed into television series on ABC Family
• Shraga Silverstein (B.A. 1940, M.A. 1954) Rabbi, educator and prolific author and translator
• Jan Slepian (B.A. 1971), author of books for children and young adult fiction
• Robert Kimmel Smith (B.A. 1951), children's author, known for Chocolate Fever (1972) and Jane's House (1982)
• Sasson Soffer (B.A. 1954), abstract painter and sculptor
• Gilbert Sorrentino (B.A. 1957), novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and editor
• Laurie Spiegel (B.A. 1975), electronic-music composer, inventor
• Jason Starr (M.F.A. 1990), Anthony Award- and Barry Award-winning author of crime fiction novels and thrillers
• Claire Sterling (B.A. 1940), author and journalist, author of The Terror Network (1981)
• Ronald Tavel (B.A. 1957), screenwriter, director, novelist, poet and actor, known for his work with Andy Warhol and The Factory
• David Trinidad (M.F.A. 1980), poet
• Alan Vega (B.A. 1960), vocalist for 1970s and 80s electronic protopunk duo Suicide
• Leah Vincent (B.A. 2007), author and memoirist; Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood (2014)
• Malvin Wald (B.A. 1936), screenwriter, authored the 1948 police drama The Naked City
• Richard Winston (B.A. 1939) and Clara Brussel Winston (B.A. 1939), prominent American translators of Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Hannah Arendt, Albert Speer, Hermann Hesse, and Rolf Hochhuth.
• Adrianne Wortzel (B.A. 1964), contemporary artist who utilizes robotics
• Jeffrey Cyphers Wright (M.F.A 1987), New Romantic poet associated with St. Mark's Poetry Project
• John Yau (M.F.A. 1978), critic, essayist, poet, and prose writer
• Rafi Zabor (B.A. 1967), a music journalist- and musician-turned-novelist
• Malcah Zeldis (B.A. 1972), twentieth century Jewish American folk painter

Religion

• J. David Bleich (B.A. 1960), authority on Jewish law and ethics, including Jewish medical ethics
• Bhikkhu Bodhi (B.A. 1966), American Buddhist monk, second president of the Buddhist Publication Society, 1984–2002
• Reeve Brenner (B.A. 1958), Reform rabbi, inventor and author
• Mariano Di Gangi (B.A. 1943), prominent minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC)
• Theodore Drange (B.A. 1955), philosopher of religion and Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University, noted for his Argument from nonbelief
• Sylvia Ettenberg (B.A 1938), Jewish educator and one of the founders of the Camp Ramah camping movement
• Susie Fishbein (B.A. 1986), American Orthodox Jewish kosher cookbook author, and cooking teacher
• Satsvarupa dasa Goswami (B.A. 1961), senior disciple and biographer of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
• Blu Greenberg (B.A. 1957), co-founder and first president of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance; active in the movement to bridge Judaism and feminism
• Jonathan Greenstein, antique Judaica authentication expert
• David Weiss Halivni (B.A. 1953), American-Israeli rabbi, scholar in the domain of Jewish Sciences and professor of Talmud
• Norma Joseph (B.A. 1966), Canadian professor, Orthodox Jewish feminist, and activist.
• Rabbi Yaakov Perlow (B.A. 1955), Hasidic rebbe and rosh yeshiva, current Novominsker Rebbe
• Larry Rosenberg (B.A. 1954), American Buddhist teacher and proponent of anapanasati (mindful breath meditation)
• Henry Rosenblum (B.A. 1969), hazzan (cantor) of the Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens, NY and Dean of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America 1998–2010
• Jacob J. Schacter (B.A. 1973), University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University
• Pinchas Stolper (B.A. 1952), Orthodox rabbi, writer, and spokesman
• Herbert Tarr (B.A. 1949), Reform rabbi who left his pulpit to become a novelist and humorist
• Eliezer Waldman(B.A. 1959), Israeli Orthodox rabbi and former politician, who served as a member of the Knesset for Tehiya between 1984 and 1990.

Science and technology

Stanley Cohen

• Milton Abramowitz (B.A. 1940, M.S. 1942), mathematician, co-author of the Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables (1964)
• Annette Aiello (B.A. 1972), entomologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; specialist in butterflies
• Ruth Aaronson Bari (B.A. 1939), mathematician known for her work in graph theory and homomorphisms
• Richard Bellman (B.A. 1941), applied mathematician and inventor of dynamic programming
• Seymour Benzer (B.A. 1942), physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist.
• William Breitbart (B.S. 1973), American psychiatrist, leader in the fields of psychosomatic medicine, psycho-oncology, and palliative care
• Harris L. Cohen (B.A. 1973, B.A.-M.D. 1976), diagnostic radiologist, leader fields of ultrasound, perinatal/pediatric imaging set standards fetal kidney, pediatric and adult ovary measurements
• Baruch Brody (B.A. 1962), bioethicist and director of the Center for Ethics, Medicine and Public Issues at The Baylor College of Medicine
• Emory L. Cowen (B.A. 1944), psychologist who pioneered the promotion of wellness in mental health
• Stanley Cohen (B.A. 1943), biochemist and Nobel laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 1986)
• Florence Comite (B.A. 1973), endocrinologist who has developed therapies for osteoporosis, endometriosis, fibroid disease, and infertility
• Esther M. Conwell (B.S. 1942), physicist, contributed to development of semiconductors and lasers
• Stanley Deser (B.S. 1949), physicist known for his contributions to general relativity, especially as co-developer of ADM formalism
• Jack Drescher (B.A. 1972), psychiatrist and psychoanalyst known for his work on sexual orientation
• Frank Field (B.S. 1947), meteorologist and science editor
• Eli Friedman (B.S. 1953), nephrologist, inventor of the first portable dialysis machine
• Herbert Friedman (B.S. 1936), pioneer in the use of sounding rockets to conduct research for solar physics, aeronomy, and astronomy
• Sol Garfunkel (B.A. 1963), mathematician and long-time executive director of the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications
• Leon Glass, (B.S. 1963), scientist; pioneered mathematical and physical methods to study biological systems, with special interest in vision, cardiac arrhythmia, and genetic networks
• Martin Goetz (B.A. 1953), pioneer in the development of the commercial software industry; holds the first U.S. software patent
• Aaron Goldberg (B.A. 1939), botanist; parasitologist; known for the Goldberg system, a treatise on the classification, evolution and phylogeny of the Monocotyledon and Dicotyledons
• Jerry Goldstein (B.S. 1993), space physicist and professor
• Marc Goldstein (B.S. 1968), American urologist and the Matthew P. Hardy Distinguished Professor of Reproductive Medicine, and Urology at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University
• Jay M. Gould, (B.A. 1936), statistician and epidemiologist, founded the Radiation and Public Health Project
• Martha Greenblatt (B.S. 1962), chemist at Rutgers University, received the 2003 American Chemical Society's Garvan-Olin Medal
• Edna Grossman (B.S. 1968), mathematician
• Howard E. Gruber (B.A. 1943), psychologist and pioneer of the psychological study of creativity
• Frank Harary (B.A. 1941, M.A. 1945), mathematician, specializing in graph theory
• Leonard Herzenberg (B.S. 1952), developed the fluorescence-activated cell sorter which revolutionized the study of cancer cells and is the basis for purification of adult stem cells; recipient of the Kyoto Prize in 2006
• Seymour Hess (B.A. 1941), meteorologist and planetary scientist
• Howard S. Hoffman (M.A. 1953), experimental psychologist
• David Kantor (B.A 1950, M.A. 1952), systems psychologist
• Edith Kaplan (B.A. 1949), creator of several important neuropsychological tests, including the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination and the Boston Naming Test
• Selna Kaplan (B.S. 1948), pediatric endocrinologist
• Sol Katz (B.A. 1978), geologist, computer scientist and early pioneer of Geospatial Free and Open Source Software
• Julian Keilson (B.S. 1947), mathematician, known for his work in probability theory
• Abraham Klein (B.A. 1947), theoretical physicist
• Lawrence Landweber (B.S. 1963), Internet pioneer, helped develop CSNET, founding member and president of the Internet Society
• Joel Lebowitz (B.A. 1952), mathematical physicist acknowledged for his contributions to statistical physics and statistical mechanics
• Leslie Libow (B.A. 1954), professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine, author of one of the first geriatric-medicine textbooks in the United States
• Edith H. Luchins (B.A. 1942), Gestalt psychologist and mathematician; first female professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Nancy Lynch (B.A. 1968), mathematician and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; winner of the 2007 Knuth Prize for contributions to the foundations of computer science
• Stephen P. Maran (B.S. 1959), astronomer and popularizer; author of Astronomy for Dummies
• Jerry March (M.S. 1953), chemist and author of March's Advanced Organic Chemistry
• Jack Minker (B.S. 1949), authority in artificial intelligence, deductive databases, logic programming and non-monotonic reasoning
• Raphael Miranda (B.S. 2006), meteorologist and weather producer at WNBC in New York City.
• Abraham Nemeth (B.S. 1940), mathematician and inventor; developed the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation
• Arthur Nowick (B.A. 1943), materials scientist
• Gloria Olive (B.A. 1944), New Zealand academic mathematician
• Stanley Osher (B.A. 1962), pioneering mathematician in applied mathematics, computational science, and scientific computing
• William E Paul (B.A. 1956), American immunologist and co-discoverer of interleukin 4
• Fredy Peccerelli (B.S. 1996), forensic anthropologist, Director of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation
• George Plafker (B.A. 1949), geologist and seismologist, known for pioneering research in subduction, tsunami, and the geology of Alaska
• George Radin (B.A. 1951) computer scientist, helped develop the PL/I programming language and design the OS/360 and TSS/360 systems
• Estelle Ramey (B.A. 1936), endocrinologist, physiologist and feminist
• Buddy Ratner(B.S. 1967), professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering and director of the Research Center for Biomaterials at the University of Washington
• Barnett Rosenberg (B.S. 1948), chemist, known for his discovery of the anti-cancer drug cisplatin
• Howard Sachs (B.S. 1949), biochemist; pioneer the study of neuroendocrinology
• Gerard Salton (B.S. 1950), pioneering computer scientist in the field of information retrieval
• Nicholas Sand (B.A. 1966), clandestine chemist and early proponent of psychedelics
• Michael Salzhauer (B.A. 1993), cosmetic and plastic surgeon, author and inventor
• Joseph D. Schulman (B.S. 1962), specialist in human genetics and infertility; founder the Genetics & IVF Institute
• Francine Shapiro (B.A. 1968, MA, 1972), psychologist and educator who originated and developed EMDR
• Seymour Shapiro (B.S. 1935), organic chemist, known for his pioneering work on a class of drugs used to treat symptoms of adult-onset diabetes
• Donald Solitar (B.A. 1953), mathematician, known for his work in combinatorial group theory; the Baumslag–Solitar groups are named after him and Gilbert Baumslag, after their joint 1962 paper on these groups
• Henry Spira (B.A. 1958), pioneering animal rights activist
• Martin Summerfield (B.S. 1936), physicist and rocket scientist, co-founder of Aerojet, and the inventor of regenerative cooling for liquid rocket engines
• Robert H. Tamarin (B.A. 1963), emeritus professor of biology, former Dean of the College of Sciences at the University of Massachusetts; developed radioisotope, electrophoretic and DNA fingerprinting techniques for use in the study of small mammals
• Joan Targ (B.A. 1960), pioneer in computer education and older sister of chess champion Bobby Fischer
• Dennis P. Tarnow (B.A. 1968), dentist and pioneer in implant research
• Edward Taub (B.S. 1953), behavioral neuroscientist on faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Armin Tehrany (B.A. 1991), American orthopaedic surgeon and film producer
• Dorothy Tennov (B.A. 1950), psychologist, introduced the term "limerence" to describe the state of being in love
• Jay Tischfield (B.A. 1967), MacMillan Professor and the Chair of the Department of Genetics at Rutgers University
• Wolf V. Vishniac (B.A. 1945), microbiologist; inventor of the "Wolf Trap," which tests for the possibility of life existing on other planets; namesake of the crater Vishniac on Mars
• Philip Zimbardo (B.A. 1954), social psychologist and designer of the Stanford Prison Experiment

Sports

• Jonathan Akpoborie, Nigerian soccer player
• Donald Aronow (B.A. 1950), designer, builder and racer of the famous Cigarette, Donzi, and Formula speed boat
• Alex Crisano, basketball player for the Philippine Patriots
• Phil Farbman (1924–1996), basketball player
• Nikki Franke (B.S. 1972), fencer and fencing coach
• Fran Fraschilla (B.A. 1980), basketball coach at Manhattan College, St. John's University and University of New Mexico; now ESPN broadcast analyst
• Ralph Goldstein (1913–1997), Olympic épée fencer
• Bill Green (M.A. 1967), basketball All-American
• Mel Hirsch (B.A. 1943), professional basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics, 1946–47
• Mirsad Huseinovic (attended 1988–92), Yugoslavian-born U.S. soccer player
• Ernest Inneh, Nigerian-American soccer player
• Pearson Jordan (B.S. 1990), Barbadian sprinter who competed in the men's 100 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• Gata Kamsky (B.A. 1999), Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, four-time U.S. Champion, current World Rapid Chess Champion, current US Chess Champion
• Saul Katz (B.A. 1960), President/CEO of the New York Mets
• Alex Lenderman (attended 2007–2009), Russian-American chess grandmaster; U16 (under 16 years old) 2005 world chess champion
• Johnny Most (B.A. 1947), sports announcer; radio voice of the Boston Celtics
• Sam Nahem (1915–2004), Major League Baseball pitcher
• Marius Russo (attended, 1932–34), Major League Baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees (1939–43, 1946); All-Star in 1941
• Allie Sherman, (B.A. 1943), President of OTB; NFL player and coach of the New York Giants football team, 1961—68
• Eddie Turchin, Major League Baseball player
• Sydne Vogel (B.S. 2009), former competitive figure skater
• Raymond Weinstein (B.A. 1963), chess player and International Master
• Richard Wilpon (B.A. 1960), Member of the New York Mets Board of Directors