43.0497° N, 87.9501° W

MILWAUKEE

Most Famous People Born in Milwaukee, United States

Notable people
1,210
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1940
Most distinctive
Baseball 5.0×

Milwaukee's bench leans hard on mid-century brains and beer-league sport: a thick Baseball and Basket cohort traces back to the Braves-then-Brewers years and Marquette's old basketball powerhouse, while an outsized Lawyer class reflects the Gilded Age German-American legal scene that eventually sent a chief justice to the Supreme Court. The quieter Film vein belongs to the studio-era screenwriters and directors who filtered up through Chicago on their way to Hollywood.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Milwaukee during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 140 notable births.

What Milwaukee Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Milwaukee's biggest profession — 12% of all notables (148).

Milwaukee over-indexes on baseball5.0× the global rate.

  1. Politician148
  2. Football111
  3. Actor82
  4. Baseball69
  5. Lawyer69
  6. Basket62
  7. Writer31
  8. Film29
  1. Baseball695.0×
  2. Basket624.1×
  3. Lawyer693.3×
  4. Officer182.3×
  5. Film291.9×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1850187519001925195019752000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Other
All1,210
Sort By

Showing 113 of 1,210 notable people

0002 ACTOR

Gene Wilder

1933 - 2016

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0003 MATHEMATICIAN

Donald Knuth

Born 1938

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0023 BASEBALL

Bob Uecker

Born 1935

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0029 STATESMAN

Lawrence Eagleburger

1930 - 2011

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0031 ACTOR

Judy Tyler

1932 - 1957

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0037 POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Ronald Inglehart

Born 1934

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0040 REPRESENTATIVE

Les Aspin

1938 - 1995

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0043 ACTOR

Paul Shenar

1936 - 1989

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0046 CHOREOGRAPHER

John Neumeier

Born 1939

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0054 POLITICIAN

Herb Kohl

Born 1935

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0060 FILM

Michael Schultz

Born 1938

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0070 BASEBALL

Bud Selig

Born 1934

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0072 FILM

Richard Schickel

1933 - 2017

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0075 MUSIC

Glenn Yarbrough

1930 - 2016

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0077 POLITICIAN

Pete Stark

1931 - 2020

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0093 LAWYER

David Fromkin

1932 - 2017

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0100 ACTOR

Robert Easton (actor)

1930 - 2011

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0112 POLITICIAN

John G. Schmitz

1930 - 2001

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0116 PSYCHIATRIST

Abraham J. Twerski

Born 1930

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0128 MATHEMATICIAN

R. Tyrrell Rockafellar

Born 1935

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0131 SCREENWRITER

William Bast

1931 - 2015

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0141 BIOLOGIST

Daniel H. Janzen

Born 1939

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0146 CRIMINOLOGIST

George L. Kelling

1935 - 2019

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0148 ACTOR

Salome Jens

Born 1935

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0163 POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Bertell Ollman

Born 1935

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0172 RADIO

Tom Snyder

1936 - 2007

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0195 POLITICIAN

Matthias Koehl

1935 - 2014

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0208 BASKET

Don Kojis

Born 1939

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0209 BASEBALL

Tony Kubek

Born 1935

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0254 PRIEST

Reginald Foster (Latinist)

Born 1939

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0257 HISTORIAN

David Schoenbaum

Born 1935

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0264 ACTOR

Peter Palmer (actor)

Born 1931

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0267 MUSIC

Ralph Votapek

Born 1939

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0268 POLITICAL

Marcus Raskin

1934 - 2017

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0281 ACADEMIC

Bruce Herschensohn

Born 1932

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0315 PIANIST

Willie Pickens

1931 - 2017

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0318 POLITICIAN

Martin J. Schreiber

Born 1939

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0323 PRIEST

Fabian Bruskewitz

Born 1935

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0330 MUSIC

Bunky Green

Born 1935

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0346 DIPLOMAT

Loret Miller Ruppe

1936 - 1996

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0361 MEDIEVALIST

Roland J. Teske

1934 - 2015

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0370 GEOGRAPHER

Ronald F. Abler

Born 1939

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0414 PHYSICIST

John Dirk Walecka

Born 1932

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0418 SAXOPHONIST

Frederick Hemke

1935 - 2019

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0419 PRIEST

James Groppi

1930 - 1985

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0428 PRIEST

Raphael Michael Fliss

1930 - 2015

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0435 MATHEMATICIAN

Albert Marden

Born 1934

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0451 HISTORIAN

Athan Theoharis

Born 1936

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0457 FILM

Jerry Ziesmer

Born 1939

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0458 PHOTOGRAPHER

Ray Metzker

1931 - 2014

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0459 POET

Jack Anderson (dance critic)

Born 1935

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0465 HISTORIAN

Robert D. Richardson

1934 - 2020

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0473 LAWYER

John C. Shabaz

1931 - 2012

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0477 WRITER

Mary Mageau

Born 1934

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0483 ACCORDIONIST

Tommy Gumina

1931 - 2013

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0490 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Adrienne L. Kaeppler

Born 1935

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0501 BASEBALL

Mike Krsnich

1931 - 2011

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0503 SCIENTIST

Robert O. Pihl

Born 1939

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0508 SPORT

Rob Tetzlaff

1935 - 2012

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0520 LAWYER

Lynn S. Adelman

Born 1939

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0523 CIVIL SERVICE

Joseph Blatchford

Born 1934

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0534 WRITER

Richard S. Wheeler

1935 - 2019

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0535 JOURNALIST

Robert D. McFadden

Born 1937

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0550 SINGER

Peter Stampfel

Born 1938

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0601 COLLECTOR

Stanley J. Seeger

1930 - 2011

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0615 KING

Edward T. Foote II

1937 - 2016

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0631 BASEBALL

Bruce Froemming

Born 1939

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0636 INSTRUCTOR

Art Scholl

1931 - 1985

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0645 SCIENTIST

Robert B. Pinter

1937 - 2001

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0653 PHYSICIST

Michael K. Moe

Born 1937

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0658 MARINE

Robert J. Modrzejewski

Born 1934

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0675 FOOTBALL

Ron Drzewiecki

1933 - 2015

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0676 MATHEMATICIAN

Robert James Blattner

1931 - 2015

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0699 SPORT

Frank Glieber

1934 - 1985

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0729 BASEBALL

Bob Botz

Born 1935

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0730 LAWYER

Timothy Stoen

Born 1938

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0753 PRIEST

Louis Falk

Born 1935

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0761 BASEBALL

Don Pavletich

1938 - 2020

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0773 SURGEON

James I. Ausman

Born 1937

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0784 BUSINESS

Pat Ryan (executive)

Born 1936

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0786 POLITICIAN

Roger Stewart

Born 1931

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0787 COMPUTER SCIENTIST

George Logemann

1938 - 2012

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0788 FOOTBALL

Dave Smith (fullback)

Born 1937

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0792 SPORT

Gil Brandt

Born 1933

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0793 PATHOLOGIST

Harold F. Dvorak

Born 1937

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0814 FOOTBALL

Neil Worden

Born 1931

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0825 DRIVER

Augie Pabst

Born 1933

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0827 ACADEMIC

Dennis H. Klatt

1938 - 1988

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0837 GOLF

Joyce Ziske

Born 1934

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0838 POLITICIAN

Dismas Becker

1936 - 2010

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0876 FOOTBALL

Rick Potter

Born 1938

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0893 PRIEST

Tomasz Gnat

1936 - 2017

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0924 SURGEON

Donald Laub

Born 1935

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0939 MATHEMATICIAN

George Roger Sell

1937 - 2015

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0959 LAWYER

Mark Lipscomb Jr.

Born 1935

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0993 MISSING

Arend Lubbers

Born 1931

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1003 POLITICIAN

Tom Ament

1937 - 2014

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1015 POLITICIAN

Carolyn H. Krause

Born 1938

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1032 LAWYER

Michael J. Barron

Born 1933

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1051 PAINTER

Fred Holle

Born 1931

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1057 ATTORNEY

David J. Cannon

1933 - 2011

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1062 POLITICIAN

J. H. Frappier

Born 1931

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1078 POLITICIAN

Robert E. Behnke

1932 - 1999

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1081 LAWYER

Mel J. Cyrak

Born 1936

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1096 POLITICIAN

E. James Ladwig

Born 1938

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1099 POLITICIAN

Lois Plous

Born 1938

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1155 JUDGE

James A. Belson

Born 1931

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1168 SCIENTIST

Ronald N. Hartman

1935 - 2011

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1169 LAWYER

Ted E. Wedemeyer Jr.

1932 - 2008

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1170 SPORT

David Dunn (bobsleigh)

Born 1936

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1188 POLITICIAN

Bonnie Ladwig

Born 1939

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1192 BISHOP

Edwin M. Leidel Jr.

Born 1938

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1208 POLITICIAN

James W. Wahner

Born 1939

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