List of Taft School alumni

The following is a list of notable alumni of Taft School. The Taft School is a private, coeducational prep school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. The school was founded by Horace Dutton Taft, the brother of President William Howard Taft, in 1890.

Academics

Alfred G. Gilman

Peter Berg

James Franciscus

Peter S. Kaufman

Michael P. W. Stone

Robert A. Taft

Ralph K. Winter Jr.

Max Pacioretty

Thomas Kuhn

• Todd J. Albert
• T. H. Breen '60, Guggenheim fellow, history professor
• Stevan Dedijer '30, founder of the Research Policy Institute, pioneer of Business Intelligence
• Alfred G. Gilman '58, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine
• Mason Gross '29, President of Rutgers University
• Samuel T. Orton 1897, pioneer in the study of dyslexia

Arts and entertainment

• Trey Anastasio '83, Phish lead guitarist
• Jeff Baxter '67, musician (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers)
• Henry Beard '63, co-founder of National Lampoon, co-author of Bored of the Rings
• Peter Berg '80, actor/director of Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor
• Mary Chapin Carpenter '76, five-time Grammy-award winner^[1]
• Spencer Treat Clark '05, actor in Gladiator, Mystic River, Unbreakable, and The Last House on the Left
• Dominique Dunne, actress^[2]
• Adam Duritz '82, lead singer of Counting Crows
• James Franciscus '53, actor in The Naked City, Longstreet
• Grant Goodeve, actor in Eight is Enough
• Geoffrey T. Hellman '24, longtime New Yorker columnist
• Deane G. Keller '17, painter and educator^[3]
• Alan Klingenstein '72, film producer
• Ralph Lee '53, Guggenheim fellow and Obie Award winner
• Lorenzo Mariani '73, international opera director
• Steve Sandvoss '98, actor
• Tom Santopietro '72, author and Broadway theater manager
• Fred Small '70, singer-songwriter
• Dudley Taft '84, member of Sweet Water guitars, vocals
• Karen L. Thorson '78, producer of The Wire, The Unusuals

Business

• Peter S. Kaufman '71, investment banker, president of the Gordian Group LLC
• Joseph Irwin Miller '27, industrialist, Cummins Engine Company
• John M. Schiff '21, investment banker, philanthropist, honorary chairman of Lehman Brothers^[4]
• George Weyerhaeuser '44, Chairman and CEO, Weyerhaeuser Company^[5]

Government officials

• Nathaniel Neiman Craley, Jr. '46, U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania^[6]
• Richard Funkhouser, U.S. Ambassador to Gabon
• Robert C. Hill '38, United States Ambassador to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Spain and Argentina
• William S. Mailliard '35, U.S. Congressman, California^[7]
• Manuel Rocha '69, United States Ambassador to Bolivia 2000-02
• Earl T. Smith '22, United States Ambassador to Cuba (1958–59)
• Michael P. W. Stone '42, U.S. Secretary of the Army
• Bob Taft '59, Governor of Ohio
• Robert A. Taft 1906, U.S. Senator from Ohio 1939-53, majority leader
• Robert Taft, Jr. '35, Republican Congressman 1963-65, 1967–71, Senator 1971-76
• William Howard Taft III '33, United States Ambassador to Ireland
• Robert F. Wagner Jr. '29, mayor of New York
• John S. Wold '34, U.S. Congressman, Wyoming^[8]

Legal and judiciary

• Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. '61, Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court^[9]
• Robert W. Sweet '40, federal judge who heard New York Times v. Gonzales concerning the Judith Miller controversy^[8]
• Ralph K. Winter Jr. '53, federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, nominated to the court in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan

Sports

• Darren Bragg '87, professional baseball player
• James Driscoll '96, professional golfer^[10]
• Patrick Kerney '95, professional football player
• Allison Mleczko '93, gold medalist in first women's Olympic ice hockey game at Nagano; silver medalist in 2002^[11]
• Max Pacioretty '07, professional hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens
• Barbara Potter '79, Hall of Fame professional tennis player
• James Stillman Rockefeller '20, Olympic gold medalist, 8-man rowing (Paris, France)
• Ryan Shannon '01, professional hockey player
• Tammy Lee Shewchuk '96, Olympic gold medalist in women's ice hockey, Salt Lake City
• Jaime Sifers '02, professional ice hockey player
• Katey Stone '84, head coach of 2014 Olympic Team USA women's ice hockey team, coach of Harvard Crimson women's ice hockey team
• John Welchli '46, Olympic silver medalist, Melbourne, 1956

Writing, journalism, and publishing

• Laurence Bergreen '67, historian and biographer
• Nelson Denis '72, journalist, screenwriter, former New York State Assemblyman
• Steven J. Erlanger ’70, London bureau chief (formerly Paris and Jerusalem bureau chief) for The New York Times
• Philip K. Howard '66, founder of Common Good, author of The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America^[12]
• Thomas Kuhn '40, author of Structure of Scientific Revolutions, coined the phrase "paradigm shift"
• John Merrow ’59, Peabody Award-winning journalist and producer
• Sumner Chilton Powell '42, Pulitzer Prize winner in history for Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town^[13]
• Josh Quittner '75, author, editor of Business 2.0
• David Kenyon Webster '40, soldier, journalist, and author

References

1. Schoemer, Karen. "No Hair Spray, No Spangles", The New York Times, August 1, 1993. Accessed December 3, 2007
2. Dunne, Dominick (March 1984). "Justice: A Father's Account Of the Trial Of His Daughter's Killer". vanityfair.com. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
3. Guide to the Deane Keller Papers : Finding Aid
4. John Schiff, A Philanthropist And Investment Banker, Dies - New York Times
5. Obituaries | Dilettante Oliver Hills Whitney, Dies At 75 | Seattle Times
6. CRALEY, Nathaniel Neiman, Jr. - Biographical Information
7. MAILLIARD, William Somers - Biographical Information
8. Citation of Merit
9. Justice Flemming L. Norcott, Jr
10. Category
11. Harvard University Gazette
12. Common Good: Founder & Chair
13. "The Pulitzer Prizes - Awards - 1964 Winners".