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
Lawyer69
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Showing 69 of 1,210 notable people

0093 LAWYER

David Fromkin

1932 - 2017

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0151 LAWYER

Abner Mikva

1926 - 2016

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0166 LAWYER

Newton N. Minow

Born 1926

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0347 LAWYER

Charles Soule

-

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0348 LAWYER

LaVern Dilweg

1903 - 1968

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0358 LAWYER

Vel Phillips

1924 - 2018

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0359 LAWYER

Joseph E. Schmitz

Born 1956

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0363 LAWYER

Herbert James Hagerman

1871 - 1935

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0426 LAWYER

John T. Chisholm

Born 1963

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0430 LAWYER

John C. Kleczka

1885 - 1959

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0437 LAWYER

Nicholas S. Zeppos

Born 1954

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0455 LAWYER

Diane S. Sykes

Born 1957

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0473 LAWYER

John C. Shabaz

1931 - 2012

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0481 LAWYER

Brad Smith (American lawyer)

Born 1959

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0486 LAWYER

Thomas E. Fairchild

1912 - 2007

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0520 LAWYER

Lynn S. Adelman

Born 1939

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0569 LAWYER

Rudolph T. Randa

1940 - 2016

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0575 LAWYER

Elmer Winter

1912 - 2009

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0635 LAWYER

Mark Gundrum

Born 1970

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0637 LAWYER

Norman Wengert

1916 - 2001

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0639 LAWYER

Michael B. Brennan

Born 1963

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0643 LAWYER

Fred Kessler

Born 1940

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0679 LAWYER

Terence T. Evans

1940 - 2011

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0714 LAWYER

David Cullen (politician)

Born 1960

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0715 LAWYER

Mark W. Bennett

Born 1950

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0730 LAWYER

Timothy Stoen

Born 1938

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0751 LAWYER

William C. Griesbach

Born 1954

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0783 LAWYER

Robert Emmet Tehan

1905 - 1975

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0798 LAWYER

Ken Kratz

Born 1960

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0808 LAWYER

Patricia S. Curley

Born 1946

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0923 LAWYER

Leonard Grunstein

Born 1952

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0937 LAWYER

Wheeler Peckham Bloodgood

1871 - 1930

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0959 LAWYER

Mark Lipscomb Jr.

Born 1935

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0962 LAWYER

Anthony J. Travia

1911 - 1993

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0963 LAWYER

Charles B. Schudson

Born 1950

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0965 LAWYER

Louise M. Tesmer

Born 1942

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0971 LAWYER

Charles C. Butler

Born 1865

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0980 LAWYER

John Louis Coffey

1922 - 2012

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0995 LAWYER

John Moses Cheney

1859 - 1922

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1002 LAWYER

Rebecca Eisenberg

Born 1968

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1007 LAWYER

Kirby Hendee

1923 - 2016

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1016 LAWYER

George E. Page

1873 - 1959

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1032 LAWYER

Michael J. Barron

Born 1933

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1040 LAWYER

John E. McCormick

1924 - 2010

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1056 LAWYER

Robert M. Curley

1922 - 2001

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1060 LAWYER

James Santelle

Born 1958

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1061 LAWYER

Michael T. Sullivan

1924 - 2007

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1066 LAWYER

Cornelius T. Young

1908 - 1980

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1072 LAWYER

Herman Georgi

Born 1870

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1081 LAWYER

Mel J. Cyrak

Born 1936

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1085 LAWYER

Leonard Fons

1903 - 1956

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1093 LAWYER

Hubert Louis Will

1914 - 1995

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1105 LAWYER

Harry F. Franke Jr.

1922 - 2012

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1108 LAWYER

Robert C. Cannon

1917 - 2008

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1111 LAWYER

Thomas L. Halkowski

Born 1962

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1120 LAWYER

Alfred Tweedy

Born 1880

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1122 LAWYER

Matthew Krueger

Born 1978

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1135 LAWYER

William F. Quick

1885 - 1966

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1140 LAWYER

Andrea Bottner

Born 1971

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1141 LAWYER

Margaret P. Varda

1917 - 2011

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1147 LAWYER

Donald W. Steinmetz

1924 - 2013

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1149 LAWYER

John A. Decker

1915 - 2006

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1164 LAWYER

Robert W. Hansen

1911 - 1997

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1169 LAWYER

Ted E. Wedemeyer Jr.

1932 - 2008

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1171 LAWYER

Paul C. Gartzke

1927 - 2009

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1173 LAWYER

Albert Ehlman

1876 - 1930

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1184 LAWYER

Roland J. Steinle

1896 - 1966

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1186 LAWYER

Oscar M. Fritz

1878 - 1957

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1187 LAWYER

William H. Dieterich (judge)

1897 - 1964

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