Lafayette College - Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

Lafayette has produced many prominent businessmen, engineers, politicians, and other notable individuals including James McKeen Cattell, the first psychology professor; Vineyard Vines founder Ian Murray, member of the Zeta Psi fraternity; and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon. David K. McDonogh, of the Class of 1844, is argued by the College to be the first "legalized" slave ever to receive a college degree. In addition, the founders of the 1960s pop group The Cyrkle, guitarists Don Danneman and Tom Dawes, were graduates of Lafayette. F. Wilbur Gingrich, Class of 1923, became a well known Greek scholar, and is noted for translating and adapting the work of Walter Bauer’s Greek-German lexicon (Bauer lexicon) in collaboration with William F. Arndt. Leslie Wah-Leung Chung 鍾華亮, Class of 1948, Member of the Hong Kong Volunteers Defense Corps (義勇軍), wounded in action at Lei Yue Mun Fort (鯉魚門炮台), during the Japanese invasion in December 1941, became President of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association 香港政府華員會 (1965–68), with contribution to the establishment of equal pay for men and women, including the right for married women to be permanent employees Leonard Jeffries, a professor at CCNY, was president of a traditionally Jewish fraternity while he was a student at Lafayette College. Jim Rosenhaus, broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians, also graduated from Lafayette College. Joe Maddon, manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, went to Lafayette College and was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity. The College has approximately 28,000 registered alumni.