40.6979° N, 73.9995° W

NEW YORK CITY

Most Famous People Born in New York City, USA

Notable people
22,064
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1935
Most distinctive
Screenwriter 5.4×

If the 20th century held a casting call, it was in New York. Almost all of the city's notable births fall after 1900, fueled by an entertainment economy — Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, the studio system, late-night TV, hip-hop in the Bronx — that has minted more actors, comedians, and musicians than any other American city. Even its 19th-century names skew literary: poets, editors, journalists, not generals or industrialists.

Standouts

What New York City Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is New York City's biggest profession — 14% of all notables (3,012).

New York City over-indexes on screenwriter 5.4× the global rate.

New York City under-produces football — only 0.1× the global rate.

  1. Actor 3,012 2.6×
  2. Politician 1,004 0.4×
  3. Writer 859 1.2×
  4. Film 841 3.1×
  5. Lawyer 794 2.1×
  6. Music 767 2.4×
  7. Baseball 584 2.3×
  8. Singer 573 1.3×
  1. Screenwriter 522 5.4×
  2. Producer 225 3.6×
  3. Novelist 299 3.4×
  4. Film 841 3.1×
  5. Photographer 287 2.7×
  6. Actor 3,012 2.6×
  7. Music 767 2.4×
  8. Baseball 584 2.3×
  1. Football 365 0.1×
  2. Politician 1,004 0.4×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of New York City's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Science
  • Other
All22,064
Sort By

Showing 2,347 of 22,064 notable people

15776 FILM

Stuart Millar

1929 - 2006

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15778 ASTRONOMER

Warren B. Offutt

Born 1928

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15793 LAWYER

Albert Sacks

1920 - 1991

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15819 CARTOONIST

Dick Cavalli

1923 - 1997

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15829 SOCIOLOGIST

William H. Friedland

1923 - 2018

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15841 WRITER

Miriam Schlein

1926 - 2004

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15853 OPERA

Joshua Hecht

1920 - 2019

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15871 LAWYER

Joyce Hens Green

Born 1928

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15873 PSYCHOLOGIST

Howard S. Hoffman

1925 - 2006

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15891 WRITER

Bernhardt J. Hurwood

1926 - 1987

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15896 SCREENWRITER

Joseph L. McEveety

1926 - 1976

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15910 MAGIC

George Schindler

Born 1929

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15919 FENCER

Uriah Jones

1924 - 2000

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15939 COPYWRITER

Phyllis Robinson

1921 - 2010

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15944 POLITICIAN

Robert Graf (Politiker)

1929 - 1996

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15946 DIPLOMAT

Jonathan Dean

1924 - 2014

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15950 FILM

Gerard Baldwin

1929 - 2018

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15952 POLITICIAN

Eugene Levy (politician)

1926 - 1990

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15957 LAWYER

Robert P. Patterson Jr.

1923 - 2015

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15970 PHARMACOLOGIST

Murray Jarvik

1923 - 2008

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15983 THEORIST

Philip W. Bell

1924 - 1990

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16006 COMPOSER

Joseph Castaldo

1927 - 2000

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16007 BUSINESS

Robert Macauley

1923 - 2010

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16019 PAINTER

Peter Golfinopoulos

Born 1928

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16041 ARTIST

John Prip

1922 - 2009

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16062 WRITER

Virginia Mathews

1925 - 2011

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16065 RABBI

Shubert Spero

Born 1923

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16068 COMPOSER

Albert Tepper

1921 - 2010

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16073 SKATER

Eileen Seigh

Born 1928

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16086 ACTOR

Sylvia O'Brien (actress)

1924 - 2006

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16123 PHILANTHROPIST

Aileen Osofsky

1926 - 2010

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16125 DIPLOMAT

Richard David Vine

1925 - 2008

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16129 BALLET

Isabel Mirrow Brown

1928 - 2014

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16136 BUSINESS

Murray Handwerker

1921 - 2011

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16172 ARCHITECT

Robert F. Gatje

1927 - 2018

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16180 SOCIALITE

Joan Tisch

1926 - 2017

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16185 FOOTBALL

Bill O'Connor (American football)

Born 1926

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16199 FINANCIER

Howard Stein

1926 - 2011

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16201 FILM

Robert Richter (American film producer)

Born 1929

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16241 PHILANTHROPIST

Deborah Szekely

Born 1920

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16244 PHILOSOPHER

Henry E. Kyburg Jr.

1928 - 2007

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16247 ARTIST

Mario Armond Zamparelli

1921 - 2012

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16289 PHYSICIST

Joseph L. Birman

1927 - 2016

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16291 BUSINESS

Stanley M. Rumbough Jr.

1920 - 2017

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16303 NEUROLOGIST

Lawrence Stark

1926 - 2004

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16319 POLITICIAN

Saul Weprin

1927 - 1994

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16328 POLITICIAN

Dominick L. DiCarlo

1928 - 1999

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16332 HISTORIAN

Gaetano L. Vincitorio

1921 - 2007

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16338 ACTOR

Teri Keane

Born 1925

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16346 JOURNALIST

Andrew Borowiec

Born 1928

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16351 ENGINEER

Ronald F. Probstein

Born 1928

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16364 WRITER

Richard Weiner (American author)

1927 - 2014

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16390 ARTIST

Bill Benulis

1928 - 2011

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16391 THERAPIST

Paul Bindrim

1920 - 1997

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16411 JOURNALIST

McCandlish Phillips

1927 - 2013

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16428 ACTOR

Laurie Mitchell

1928 - 2018

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16443 POLITICIAN

Caesar Trunzo

1926 - 2013

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16445 SCIENTIST

Frank Moya

Born 1929

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16467 ENTREPRENEUR

Dan Lurie

1923 - 2013

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16483 PHILOLOGIST

Herbert W. Benario

Born 1929

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16484 RADIO

William (Rosko) Mercer

1927 - 2000

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16489 WRITER

Walter Schneir

1927 - 2009

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16503 WRITER

Louise Kaplan

1929 - 2012

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16508 MUSIC

Ray Rivera

Born 1929

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16511 FILM

Amram Nowak

1924 - 2005

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16557 JOURNALIST

Sylvan Fox

1928 - 2007

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16566 PSYCHIATRIST

Donald Klein

1928 - 2019

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16568 PAINTER

Art Brenner

1924 - 2013

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16575 PLAYWRIGHT

Paul Shyre

1926 - 1989

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16576 COMPUTER SCIENTIST

Dorothy Blum

1924 - 1980

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16608 ACTOR

Bette Grayson

1922 - 1954

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16611 PAINTER

Oscar Chelimsky

1923 - 2010

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16631 PUBLISHER

Henry Luce III.

1925 - 2005

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16635 ART HISTORIAN

James D. Breckenridge

1926 - 1982

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16646 ACADEMIC

Stephen G. Daitz

1926 - 2014

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16665 PRIEST

Austin Bernard Vaughan

1927 - 2000

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16671 ACTOR

Marshall Flaum

1925 - 2010

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16675 ATHLETE

Sam Felton (athlete)

1926 - 2015

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16681 MATHEMATICIAN

Frank Proschan

1921 - 2003

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16688 FILM

Robert M. Leeds

1920 - 2000

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16704 SINGER

John Battles

1921 - 2009

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16711 MUSIC

Marc Lifschey

1926 - 2000

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16712 MOBSTER

Anthony Mirra

1927 - 1982

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16718 MUSIC

Eddie Bonnemere

1921 - 1996

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16722 RADIO

Jerry Williams (radio)

1923 - 2003

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16732 MOBSTER

Matthew Ianniello

1920 - 2012

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16755 PUBLIC SERVANT

Orin Lehman

1920 - 2008

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16760 DIPLOMAT

Bruce Gelb

Born 1927

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16770 PLAYWRIGHT

Sidney Michaels

1927 - 2011

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16775 METEOROLOGIST

Sheldon Kay Friedlander

1927 - 2007

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16777 LAWYER

Roderic L. O'Connor

1921 - 1982

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16780 ACTOR

Dana Broccoli

1922 - 2004

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16786 ACTOR

Paul Herlinger

1929 - 2010

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16787 ARTIST

Marvin Stein

1925 - 2010

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16790 ENDOCRINOLOGIST

Selna Kaplan

1927 - 2010

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16795 ACTOR

Betty Harford

Born 1927

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16816 BASEBALL

Bill Lindsey

Born 1920

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16827 NOVELIST

Elliot West

Born 1924

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16866 POLITICIAN

Houston I. Flournoy

1929 - 2008

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16870 SOCIOLOGIST

Jackson Toby

Born 1925

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16877 BUSINESS

Andrew W. Cooper

1927 - 2002

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16884 PAINTER

Regina Bogat

Born 1928

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16886 JUDGE

William Benner Enright

1925 - 2020

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16893 PAINTER

Francis Celentano

1928 - 2016

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16899 JOURNALIST

Paul Coates

1921 - 1968

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16902 PRODUCER

Jon Epstein

1928 - 1990

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16908 BASEBALL

Al Heist

1927 - 2006

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16921 ORNITHOLOGIST

Raymond Andrew Paynter, Jr.

1925 - 2003

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16923 SINGER

Barry Morell

1927 - 2003

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16959 AVIATOR

Vincent O'Rourke

1922 - 2011

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16970 SWIMMER

Eugene Rogers

Born 1924

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16971 CINEMA

Richard C. Kratina

1928 - 1999

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16982 BASEBALL

Mario Picone

1926 - 2013

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16984 LIBERAL

Leonard Lief

1924 - 2007

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16996 MUSIC

Miriam Bienstock

1923 - 2015

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16997 POLITICIAN

James Erwin (politician)

1921 - 2005

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17001 LAWYER

Thomas Collier Platt Jr.

1925 - 2017

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17008 FAN

Freddy Schuman

1925 - 2010

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17015 LAW

Roy M. Mersky

1925 - 2008

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17020 POLITICIAN

D. Bennett Mazur

1924 - 1994

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17045 SPORT

Lee Leonard

1929 - 2018

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17046 BUSINESS

Charles J. Urstadt

1928 - 2020

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17047 ACADEMIC

John Giles Milhaven

1927 - 2004

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17055 BASEBALL

Hal Schacker

1925 - 2015

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17060 POLITICIAN

John B. Daly (New York)

1929 - 1999

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17069 ACTOR

Jack Eagle

1926 - 2008

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17084 ACADEMIC

Bennett Berger

1926 - 2005

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17087 PHYSICIST

Larry Spruch

1923 - 2006

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17119 ACTOR

Walter Mathews (actor)

1926 - 2012

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17124 BIOLOGIST

Iris M. Ovshinsky

1927 - 2006

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17142 ARTIST

Sherman Drexler

1925 - 2014

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17158 PHYSICIST

Marshall C. Yovits

1923 - 2018

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17182 LAWYER

Warren William Eginton

1924 - 2019

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17183 JUDGE

George Carroll (judge)

1923 - 2016

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17188 BUSINESS

Robert Rosencrans

1927 - 2016

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17218 GENETICIST

Maurice Sanford Fox

1924 - 2020

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17221 PRODUCER

Gene Norman

1922 - 2015

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17228 POLITICIAN

Flora D. Crittenden

Born 1924

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17238 MILITAR

Charles W. Dryden

1920 - 2008

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17246 BASEBALL

Bill Sommers

1923 - 2000

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17249 NAVY

Elmer L. Gaden

1923 - 2012

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17251 ENGINEER

Theodor Borchgrevink

1923 - 2015

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17258 SURGEON

William F. Bernhard

1924 - 2018

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17280 BIOLOGIST

Oscar Touster

1921 - 2015

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17292 DIPLOMAT

Taylor G. Belcher

1920 - 1990

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17303 MUSIC

Charles Kaufman (educator)

1928 - 2016

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17332 MILITAR

Joseph F. Merrell

1926 - 1945

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17351 ENTREPRENEUR

Herman Fialkov

1922 - 2012

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17386 SAXOPHONIST

Ray Santos

1928 - 2019

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17387 WRITER

Adele Faber

Born 1928

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17403 COLUMNIST

Bert Greene (cookbook author)

1923 - 1988

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17405 THEATER

Gladys Nederlander

1925 - 2008

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17421 SOCIOLOGIST

Judith Blake (sociologist)

1926 - 1993

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17423 FILM

Charles Okun

1924 - 2005

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17427 BASEBALL

Angelo LiPetri

1929 - 2016

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17431 PSYCHIATRIST

Harold Lawrence McPheeters

Born 1923

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17506 MILITAR

Robert McDade

1922 - 2009

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17515 PHOTOGRAPHER

Nat Herz

1920 - 1964

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17519 PHYSICIST

John Slonczewski

1929 - 2019

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17532 ACTOR

Roberto Gari

1920 - 2008

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17534 FILM

Jack Kroll

1926 - 2000

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17557 SWIMMER

Elizabeth Ryan (swimmer)

1923 - 1998

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17576 ACTOR

Buddy Gorman

1921 - 2010

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17577 SINGER

Mickey Manners

1925 - 2016

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17584 MUSIC

Howard Brofsky

1927 - 2013

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17587 ARTIST

Betty Warren (artist)

1920 - 1993

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17592 WRITER

Joan Gould

Born 1927

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17594 BASEBALL

Lee Howard

1923 - 2018

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17613 PATHOLOGIST

Alan S. Rabson

1926 - 2018

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17614 WRITER

Frank McAuliffe

1926 - 1986

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17628 PHILOSOPHER

Jane Roland Martin

Born 1929

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17652 COMICS

Ray Herman

1920 - 1996

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17669 MUSIC

Don Ferrara

1928 - 2011

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17670 CURATOR

Gillett Griffin

1928 - 2016

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17676 MILITAR

Bernard J. Ray

1921 - 1944

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17677 VIROLOGIST

Harry Rubin

1926 - 2020

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17706 MATHEMATICIAN

Alex Heller

1925 - 2008

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17714 POLITICIAN

John T. Gregorio

1928 - 2013

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17725 POLITICIAN

Ray Shamie

1921 - 1999

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17726 STATISTICIAN

Anita K. Bahn

1920 - 1980

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17784 MILITAR

Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)

1926 - 1982

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17785 FIGHTER PILOT

Yenwith K. Whitney

1924 - 2011

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17789 CHEMIST

Michael P. Cava

1926 - 2010

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17792 ENGINEER

S. George Bankoff

1921 - 2011

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17794 BASKET

Bill Kotsores

1924 - 1971

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17796 MATHEMATICIAN

Gloria Olive

1923 - 2006

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17811 COPYWRITING

Julian Koenig

1921 - 2014

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17817 DENTIST

Leonard Linkow

1926 - 2017

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17820 MUSIC

Vivian Perlis

1928 - 2019

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17821 SOCIALITE

Gregg Sherwood

1923 - 2011

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17847 SCREENWRITER

Gene Luotto

1920 - 2011

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17850 COMPOSER

Roy Travis

1922 - 2013

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17855 RABBI

Nachman Bulman

1925 - 2002

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17862 FOOTBALL

Alex Wizbicki

1921 - 2018

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17869 SAILOR

Owen Torrey

1925 - 2001

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17872 FOOTBALL

Ed Sharkey

1927 - 2015

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17894 POLITICIAN

John D. Caemmerer

1928 - 1982

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17920 POLITICIAN

Deane Dana

1926 - 2005

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17931 ART HISTORIAN

Karl Katz

1929 - 2017

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17933 PHILOLOGIST

James W. Halporn

1929 - 2011

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17934 MUSIC

Arthur Kent (songwriter)

1920 - 2009

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17940 ACTOR

Hugh McPhillips

1920 - 1990

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17945 PUBLISHER

Marion Boyars

1927 - 1999

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18002 BANK

Seymour Milstein

1920 - 2001

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18017 ECONOMIST

Alfred H. Conrad

1924 - 1970

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18023 PSYCHOLOGIST

Stanley Graham (psychologist)

Born 1926

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18025 MUSIC

Elaine Leighton

Born 1926

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18038 LAWYER

Jerome Lyle Rappaport

Born 1927

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18047 PAINTER

Rudy Nappi

Born 1923

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18057 ACADEMIC

Richard B. Setlow

1921 - 2015

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18058 COMPOSER

Pete Terrace

Born 1927

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18066 EDITOR

Ashbel Green (editor)

1928 - 2013

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18085 COMERCIANTE

Antonio Del Conde Pontones

Born 1926

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18092 MEDIA

Penny Lord

1927 - 2014

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18093 GOVERNMENT

Mildred Robbins Leet

1922 - 2011

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18098 IMMUNOLOGIST

Ion Gresser

Born 1928

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18104 DIPLOMAT

Lawrence Pezzulo

1926 - 2017

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18112 MILITAR

Charles W. Shea

1921 - 1994

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18131 BUSINESS

Miles Cahn

1921 - 2017

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18140 RESEARCH

Eli M. Pearce

1929 - 2015

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18158 SINGER

Jean Swain

1923 - 2000

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18164 ACTOR

John Ward (American actor)

1923 - 1995

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18175 PAINTER

James Gahagan

1927 - 1999

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18178 GEOLOGIST

William R. Muehlberger

1923 - 2011

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18184 PHYSICIAN

Alice Ladas

Born 1921

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18190 ILLUSTRATOR

Walter Popp (illustrateur)

1920 - 2002

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18198 NEUROSCIENTIST

Edith Graef McGeer

Born 1923

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18210 AEROSPACE

Michael Paine

1928 - 2018

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18218 LAWYER

Arthur Kramer

1927 - 2008

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18221 CINEMA

Jack Priestley

1926 - 1993

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18225 ACTOR

Janet Ward

1925 - 1995

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18226 PRINTMAKER

Ruth Leaf

1923 - 2015

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18227 BOXER

Tiger Jones

1928 - 1994

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18252 CHEMIST

Daniel Kivelson

1929 - 2003

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18258 BASEBALL

Steve Lembo

1926 - 1989

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18283 SCULPTOR

Irene Krugman

1925 - 1982

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18301 PIANIST

Deryck Sampson

Born 1925

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18310 ECONOMIST

George Herbert Borts

1927 - 2014

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18332 BUSINESS

Richard L. Gelb

1924 - 2004

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18349 AEROSPACE

Bill Tindall

1925 - 1995

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18356 CIVIL SERVICE

John Wesley Hanes III

1925 - 2018

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18365 PLAYER

Victor Mitchell (bridge)

1923 - 1995

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18367 NEUROLOGIST

Lewis Rowland

1925 - 2017

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18377 PHILOLOGIST

Seymour L. Gross

1926 - 1998

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18381 ARCHITECT

Norman Cherner

1920 - 1987

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18386 MILITAR

Anthony Casamento

1920 - 1987

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18405 ATHLETIC

Jack Kaiser

Born 1926

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18408 DRIVER

Ralph Liguori

1926 - 2020

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18411 ARTIST

Stan Harper

1921 - 2016

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18425 ACADEMIC

John H. Bunzel

1924 - 2018

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18431 BASEBALL

Frank Fanovich

1923 - 2011

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18476 MUSIC

Jerry Lloyd

Born 1920

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18484 MEDIA

R. Peter Straus

1923 - 2012

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18505 GRANDDAUGHTER

Peter Feller

1920 - 1998

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18512 ENGINEER

Sy Schulman

1926 - 2012

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18514 BASEBALL

Joe McDonald (baseball executive)

Born 1929

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18523 MUSIC

Chauncey Welsch

1927 - 2008

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18531 LAWYER

Gerard Louis Goettel

1928 - 2011

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18533 MUSIC

Harriet Serr

1927 - 1989

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18535 WRITER

Nedd Willard

1926 - 2018

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18537 POLITICIAN

Marshall Rauch

Born 1923

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18553 JOCKEY

Warren Mehrtens

1920 - 1997

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18556 BANK

Lewis Glucksman

1925 - 2006

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18569 INVENTOR

Aran Safir

1926 - 2007

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18575 SCIENTIST

Robert Stone (scientist)

1922 - 2016

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18577 ACADEMIC

Denah Lida

1923 - 2007

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18599 BUSINESS

Sy Syms

1926 - 2009

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18659 VIOLIN

Sheldon Kurland

1928 - 2010

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18676 PROFESSOR

Howard Bruner Schaffer

1929 - 2017

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18681 HISTORIAN

Thomas Day Goodrich

1927 - 2015

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18696 AUTHOR

Leonora Hornblow

1920 - 2005

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18726 BUSINESS

Jack Rudin

1924 - 2016

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18727 JOURNALIST

Ralph Renick

1928 - 1991

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18729 PRIEST

Timothy S. Healy

1923 - 1992

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18730 MUSIC

Harvey Leonard

Born 1924

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18742 THERAPIST

Ruth du Pont Lord

1922 - 2014

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18750 PHYSICIAN

Alexander Breslow

1928 - 1980

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18768 LAWYER

Frederick M. Nicholas

Born 1920

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18779 ACTOR

Ray Saunders

1922 - 2000

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18800 ARMY

Ernest Graves Jr.

1924 - 2019

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18804 PUBLISHER

Gopal Raju

1928 - 2008

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18807 EMMY

Trudy Haynes

Born 1926

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18827 NOVELIST

Oliver Lange

1927 - 2013

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18835 FILM

Lee Goodman

1923 - 1988

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18842 OFFICER

Marcus Aurelius Arnheiter

1925 - 2009

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18878 WRITER

Selma Wassermann

Born 1929

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18907 BUSINESS

William Zeckendorf Jr.

1929 - 2014

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18908 ENGINEER

Sydney R. Parker

1923 - 1996

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18916 BASSIST

Bruce Lawrence (Bassist)

1926 - 2015

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18922 LAWYER

Morton Birnbaum

1926 - 2005

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18937 NEUROSCIENTIST

Edward Evarts

1926 - 1985

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18943 POLITICIAN

Thomas F. Stroock

1925 - 2009

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18944 MUSIC

Charlie Perry (Musiker)

1924 - 1998

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18955 WRITER

Robert Gerald Livingston

Born 1927

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18957 ACADEMIC

Willem Van Rensselaer Malkus

1923 - 2016

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18974 CHEMIST

Howard Reiss

1922 - 2015

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19024 BASEBALL

Jim Romano

1927 - 1990

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19026 TELEVISION

Rosalind P. Walter

1924 - 2020

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19038 MILITAR

Richard Horner Thompson

1926 - 2016

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19039 MATHEMATICIAN

Harvey Cohn (Mathematiker)

1923 - 2014

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