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 125 of 1,210 notable people

0005 SINGER

Al Jarreau

1940 - 2017

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0018 POLITICIAN

Jim Risch

Born 1943

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0019 WRITER

Peter Straub

Born 1943

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0020 WRITER

Neale Donald Walsch

Born 1943

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0021 FILM

David Zucker (director)

Born 1947

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0024 GUITAR

Steve Miller (musician)

Born 1943

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0025 PHYSICIST

David J. Wineland

Born 1944

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0028 PSYCHOLOGIST

Robert Cialdini

Born 1945

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0038 BIOCHEMIST

Thomas A. Steitz

1940 - 2018

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0042 SINGER

Leland Sklar

Born 1947

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0057 PRODUCER

Jerry Harrison

Born 1949

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0059 SOCIOLOGIST

Jeffrey C. Alexander

Born 1947

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0078 FILM

James Benning (film director)

Born 1942

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0088 POLITICIAN

Bob Kasten

Born 1942

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0089 THERAPIST

Steve de Shazer

1940 - 2005

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0119 ACTOR

Chip Zien

Born 1947

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0125 ACTOR

Marc Alaimo

Born 1942

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0132 POLICE

Bernardine Dohrn

Born 1942

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0149 ACTOR

Deidre Hall

Born 1947

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0158 BASKET

Fred Brown (basketball)

Born 1948

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0167 FOOTBALL

Tom Dempsey

1947 - 2020

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0175 CARDIOLOGIST

David J. Skorton

Born 1949

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0188 POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Thomas E. Mann

Born 1944

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0206 POLITICIAN

Jerry Kleczka

1943 - 2017

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0223 PRODUCER

Jack Rieley

1942 - 2015

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0229 PRIEST

James Michael Harvey

Born 1949

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0252 PHILOSOPHER

William Lycan

Born 1945

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0258 SOCIOLOGIST

Michael Schudson

Born 1946

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0262 ACTOR

Jeff Doucette

Born 1947

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0269 SCREENWRITER

Joseph McBride (writer)

Born 1947

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0275 JOURNALIST

Patricia Wells

Born 1946

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0276 RELIGIOUS

Jayapataka Swami

Born 1949

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0278 NOVELIST

Ann Maxwell

Born 1944

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0282 SCREENWRITER

Herschel Weingrod

Born 1947

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0297 PERCUSSIONIST

Tim Davis (musician)

1943 - 1988

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0310 FILM

Ernie Gehr

Born 1943

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0349 HISTORIAN

Hasia Diner

Born 1946

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0355 ARTIST

George Gessert

Born 1944

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0360 SINGER

Dale Duesing

Born 1947

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0373 NOVELIST

Grania Davis

1943 - 2017

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0388 FOOTBALL

Dave Manders

Born 1941

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0389 FOOTBALL

Bob Heinz

Born 1947

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0402 PHILOSOPHER

Richard A. Cash

Born 1941

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0406 BASKET

Jeff Webb (basketball)

Born 1948

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0412 HOST

Michael Feldman

Born 1949

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0431 ASTRONOMER

George Blumenthal

Born 1945

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0433 PHYSICIST

Davison Soper

Born 1943

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0444 PSYCHOLOGIST

Richard N. Aslin

Born 1949

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0461 REAL ESTATE

Jerry Speyer

Born 1940

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0463 JOURNALIST

Neal Ulevich

Born 1946

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0506 HISTORIAN

Michael Copps

Born 1940

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0511 JOURNALIST

David Zurawik

Born 1948

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0513 FOOTBALL

Chuck Mercein

Born 1943

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0514 ARCHITECT

Will Bruder

Born 1946

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0521 ACTOR

Christa Helm

1949 - 1977

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0541 ACTOR

George Lee Andrews

Born 1942

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0543 FOOTBALL

Karl Kassulke

1941 - 2008

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0547 BUSINESS

Kay Koplovitz

Born 1945

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0568 OFFICER

Lance Sijan

1942 - 1968

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0569 LAWYER

Rudolph T. Randa

1940 - 2016

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0589 ACTOR

Andrea Hall

Born 1947

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0594 RADIO

Jim Peck

Born 1943

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0595 RADIO

Rik De Lisle

Born 1947

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0606 BASEBALL

Craig Kusick

1948 - 2006

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0609 PALAEONTOLOGIST

Ed Landing

Born 1949

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0643 LAWYER

Fred Kessler

Born 1940

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0646 SCULPTOR

Roy Staab

Born 1941

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0664 OPERA

Marilyn Schmiege

Born 1948

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0670 MAGAZINE

Shay Knuth

Born 1945

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0673 NOVELIST

Steve Weiner

Born 1947

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0679 LAWYER

Terence T. Evans

1940 - 2011

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0687 MUSIC

Jack Grassel

Born 1948

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0692 POLITICIAN

Spencer Coggs

Born 1949

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0704 POLITICIAN

Don Pridemore

Born 1946

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0731 POLITICIAN

Dave Schulz (politician)

1949 - 2007

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0742 FOOTBALL

Tom Larscheid

Born 1940

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0757 POLITICIAN

Jim Ott

Born 1947

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0776 FOOTBALL

Pat Curran (American football)

Born 1945

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0780 RACING

Bill Tempero

Born 1944

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0785 ECONOMIST

Charles Nelson (Ökonom)

Born 1942

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0791 EMPLOYEE

Jack Chojnacki

Born 1941

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0800 JOURNALIST

Ned Day

1945 - 1987

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0808 LAWYER

Patricia S. Curley

Born 1946

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0812 BANK

Thom Weisel

Born 1941

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0813 MASON

Alan Merten

1941 - 2020

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0829 BUSINESS

James Goldstein

Born 1940

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0831 POLITICIAN

John Sharpless

Born 1945

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0859 SONGWRITER

Erik Scott

Born 1948

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0871 FOOTBALL

Bill Stetz

Born 1945

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0878 CARTOONIST

Jim Mitchell (cartoonist)

Born 1949

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0879 BANK

Edward J. Zore

Born 1945

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0904 FOOTBALL

Ron Rewald

Born 1942

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0908 PHYSICIAN

Anthony L. Komaroff

Born 1941

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0914 COMMISSIONER

Doris Meissner

Born 1941

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0915 POLITICIAN

Steve Conliff

1949 - 2006

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0941 POLITICIAN

Richard Grobschmidt

1948 - 2016

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0944 FOOTBALL

Jim Waskiewicz

Born 1944

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0945 ATTORNEY

Aaron Twerski

Born 1940

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0946 OFFICER

Tad J. Oelstrom

Born 1943

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0965 LAWYER

Louise M. Tesmer

Born 1942

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0967 POLITICIAN

Donald K. Stitt

1944 - 2014

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0968 POLITICIAN

Barbara Ulichny

Born 1947

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0978 POLITICIAN

Peter Bock

Born 1948

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0981 FOOTBALL

John Sisk Jr.

Born 1941

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0988 POLITICIAN

John La Fave

Born 1949

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1010 POLITICIAN

John Plewa

1945 - 1995

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1019 POLITICIAN

David Berger (Wisconsin politician)

Born 1946

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1021 PASTOR

David Benke

Born 1946

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1027 FOOTBALL

Gary Schwertfeger

Born 1940

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1030 POLITICIAN

John L. Merkt

1946 - 2009

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1034 ACTIVIST

Sharon Maeda

Born 1945

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1035 POLITICIAN

Jeannette Bell

Born 1941

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1044 ARTIST

Stephen Pevnick

Born 1944

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1064 POLITICIAN

James A. Rutkowski

Born 1942

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1079 PRIEST

Russell Jacobus

Born 1944

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1087 POLITICIAN

John H. Niebler

Born 1941

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1089 POLITICIAN

Phillip James Tuczynski

Born 1947

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1097 NOVELIST

Robert Hellenga

1941 - 2020

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1106 POLITICIAN

Thomas Seery

Born 1945

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1126 SPORT

Wayne LeBombard

Born 1944

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1131 FOOTBALL

Ralph Kurek

Born 1943

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1133 ARTIST

Jane Logemann

Born 1942

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1163 POLITICIAN

Lynn Schindler

1944 - 2018

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1175 WRITER

Kate Grilley

Born 1943

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1190 FOOTBALL

Tim McCann (American football)

Born 1947

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