This list of alumni of Riverdale Country School, a college preparatory day school in New York City, includes graduates and students who did not graduate.
List of alumni Virginia Abernethy (born 1934), anthropologistVirginia Abernathy , Southern Poverty Law Center. Accessed March 17, 2024. "Interestingly, given her advocacy of a total moratorium on U.S. immigration from Third World countries (Europeans excepted), Abernethy was born in Cuba, and was raised there and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before coming to New York City and attending the Riverdale Country School." Dan Abrams (class of 1984), chief legal affairs anchor for ABC NewsFoxley, David. "Ed Hayes Takes On Riverdale Country School" , New York Observer, April 23, 2007. Accessed March 6, 2017. "He was talking about Riverdale Country School, the chi-chi private school where tuition is $33,000 a year and which counts MSNBC’s Dan Abrams, The New Yorker’s theater critic John Lahr and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell among its alumni." Josh Appelbaum, television writerLongwell, Todd. "Appelbaum & Nemec : Friendship leads to big-budget Mission" , Variety (magazine), December 2, 2011. Accessed March 6, 2017. "It’s not surprising to hear Appelbaum and Nemec complete each other’s sentences. They’re not just longtime professional partners — they’ve been friends since they were third-graders at Riverdale Country School, a K-12 preparatory academy in New York." Sosie Bacon (born 1992), actress"Sosie Bacon’s Hollywood Journey: From a Star-kid to Acting Success" , Medium.com, October 25, 2023. Accessed March 17, 2023. "Sosie completed her schooling at the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, where she enjoyed a conventional upbringing that was helped by the Jewish faith she shared with her classmates." Charlie Barnet (1913–1991), jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleaderBarnet, Charlie; and Dance, Stanley. Those Swinging Years: The Autobiography of Charlie Barnet, p. 4. Da Capo Press, 1992. . Accessed March 6, 2017. "I was at several different schools during this period and most of my stays were uneventful, but I had my first run-in with the rules of society when I was attending Riverdale Country School at the age of twelve." Jacqueline Barton (born 1952), chemistMonroe, R.A. "Love at First Lab; Chemist Jacqueline Barton blazes a trail with innovative DNA research" , Barnard magazine, Winter 2016. Accessed March 6, 2017. "Barton grew up in New York City, where she attended the Riverdale Country School for Girls." Rosalyn Baxandall (1939–2015), historianGrimes, William. "Rosalyn Baxandall, Feminist Historian and Activist, Dies at 76" , The New York Times, October 14, 2015. Accessed March 6, 2017. "Ms. Baxandall attended Riverdale Country School in the Bronx and Hunter High School in Manhattan." Cliff Bayer (born 1977), Olympic foil fencerWallace, William N. "Fencing; Mild, Modest Teen-Ager Knows How to Seize a Championship" , The New York Times, July 11, 1995. Accessed May 8, 2017. "Rather than start college in the fall, Bayer, who graduated from Riverdale Country Day, will devote his time entirely to fencing with his goal set on the Olympic Games at Atlanta next year." Lisa Birnbach (born 1956, class of 1974), author of The Official Preppy HandbookRich, Motoko. "Rejoice, Muffy and Biff: A Preppy Primer Revisited" , The New York Times, April 3, 2010. Accessed March 6, 2017. "'I didn’t think people wanted to be like us,' said Ms. Birnbach, who attended Riverdale Country School and Brown University, then went on to enjoy what some might called the Life Well-Prepped: writing college guides and co-writing books about friendship, motherhood and being Jewish, as well as working a stint as a correspondent on CBS’s Early Show." Richard Blumenthal (born 1946), U.S. senator from ConnecticutIllson, Murray. "Interview; U.S. Attorney at Age 31" , The New York Times, July 17, 1977. Accessed March 17, 2024. 'After attending the Riverdale Country School in New York, Mr. Blumenthal entered Harvard College in 1963, graduated four years later with a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude and with a Phi Beta Kappa key." Niesha Butler, basketball player, actress DJ Cassidy (born 1981), DJ, record producerBernstein, Jacob. "In the Spin Zone, Word’s Around; A Night Out With D.J. Cassidy", The New York Times, May 2, 2014. Accessed March 6, 2017. "'I’m more of a taxi dude,' said Cassidy, who grew up on the Upper East Side (he attended Riverdale Country School and New York University)." Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (1920–1948), socialiteHoffman, Barbara. "JFK’s forgotten free-spirited sister was the most cursed of them all; JFK’s forgotten free-spirited sister was the most cursed of them all", New York Post, January 16, 2016. Accessed May 8, 2017. "Like her brother the future president, Kathleen Agnes Kennedy — the fourth child of Rose and Joseph, future ambassador to the UK — was born in Brookline, Mass. After the family’s move to Bronxville, she attended the Riverdale Country School until her mother decided it was time for an education that precluded contact with the opposite sex." Garrett Chalfin (born 2004), crossword constructor for The New York Times Louis Ozawa Changchien (born 1975), actor Chevy Chase (born 1943), actorWright, Megh. "Saturday Night’s Children: Chevy Chase (1975-1976)" , Vulture, September 23, 2014. Accessed March 17, 2024. "As a student Chase was trouble; he was expelled from the Riverdale Country School in New York, then Haverford College’s dean kicked him out for, as Chase called it, 'your general Animal House stuff, but not quite that broad.'" Suzan Johnson Cook (born 1957), pastor and activistBeekman, Daniel. "Bronx pastor's higher calling: Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook becoming Obama's religious freedom ambassador", New York Daily News, May 4, 2011. Accessed March 6, 2017. "The Riverdale Country School and Harvard University grad, who lived on the Grand Concourse before moving to Suffolk County, has traveled to five continents preaching tolerance." Jonathan Dean (1924–2014), United States ambassador to Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions talksKennedy, Charles Stuart. "Interview with Ambassador Jonathan Dean" , Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, July 8, 1997. Accessed March 17, 2024. "We then moved to New York and I went to a school in Yonkers called Riverdale Country School and then to Harvard College." Richard Engel (born 1973), NBC News chief foreign correspondentKurtz, Howard. "Richard Engel sticks with combat coverage despite loss; NBC's war horse in IraqRichard Engel perseveres with combat coverage despite severe personal loss" , Houston Chronicle, October 31, 2006. Accessed March 6, 2017. "'He was a great writer,' says Ross Peet, a classmate at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx." Harry Enten (born 1988), political journalist Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021), artist and social activist Varian Fry (1907–1967), journalist who ran a program helping thousands of Jewish refugees escape from Nazi GermanyNewman, Maria. "COMMUNITIES; A Hometown Hero for Ridgewood" , The New York Times, November 25, 2011. Accessed March 6, 2017. "Fry later attended Hotchkiss, and graduated from the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx." Peter Galison (born 1955), Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in history of science and physics at Harvard University Alexander Garvin (1941–2021), urban planner James Gleick (born 1954), science writerDiamond, David. "James Gleick's Survival Lessons" , Wired, August 1999. Accessed June 17, 2009. "Gleick attended Riverdale Country School, where JFK once studied, and excelled in mathematics and science." Leopold Godowsky Jr. (1900–1983), co-creator of the first color transparency filmvia Associated Press. "Film inventors weren't just whistling Brahms", Chicago Tribune, June 30, 1985. Accessed March 6, 2017. "The product invented by Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky Jr. remains the best-selling color slide film in the world, Kodak says.... Kodachrome began to develop in the men's minds as early as 1916, when they were inquisitive 15-year-old students at Riverdale Country School in New York City." Rachel Hadas (born 1948), poet, teacher, essayist, and translator Calvin Hill (born 1947, class of 1965), former NFL playerKatz, Michael. "Calvin Hill A Fan Again At 34", The New York Times, December 12, 1981. Accessed March 6, 2017. "If there is poetic justice in the N.F.L., Hill will play against the Jets, a team representing the city where he was a prep school sensation at Riverdale Country School." Molly Jong-Fast (born 1978), journalist and author John Kao (born 1950), author and strategic advisorKao, John. Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, p. 30. HarperBusiness, 1996. . Accessed March 6, 2017. "My parents decided not to risk my future in the wasteland of a New York City public high school, and instead sent me to a more rigorous institution, the Riverdale Country School." Claude Kelly (born 1980), singer, songwriter and music producer"Claude Kelly Clinic" , Berklee College of Music. Accessed March 6, 2017. "Kelly's mother was serious about his education too. He attended the noted private school Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, and he performed around New York with the New York Boys Choir." John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), president of the United States, attended Riverdale's Lower SchoolNewman, Andy; and Burgess, Joseph. "New York Today: J.F.K. in the Bronx", The New York Times, November 20, 2013. Accessed March 6, 2017. "At the Riverdale Country School, Mr. Kennedy was not a star student." Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968), U.S. senatorSchneider, Steven K. Robert F. Kennedy, p. 14. iUniverse, 2001. . Accessed March 6, 2017. "Robert attended the public and private schools in Hyannis Port, Bronxville Public School for the third, fourth and fifth grades. and the private Riverdale Country Day School." Ron Kim (born 1979), politicianColangelo, Lisa L. "Ron Kim, first Korean-American elected to state Legislature, urges teens to pursue their passions" , New York Daily News, October 20, 2013. Accessed March 6, 2017. "Like other immigrants, they worked around the clock so their only child, Ron, could attend the elite Riverdale Country Day School." Carlos Kleiber (1930–2004), conductorBarber, Charles. Corresponding with Carlos: A Biography of Carlos Kleiber, p. 28. Scarecrow Press, 2011. . "He was enrolled at the private Riverdale Country School, graduating there in June 1948." Gerard Koeppel (born 1975), author, historian, and journalistStaff. "Diane M. Connal Wed To Gerard T. Koeppel" , The New York Times, May 18, 1987. Accessed May 8, 2017. "Mr. Koeppel, the news producer for the Mutual Radio Network in New York, graduated from the Riverdale Country Day School and Wesleyan University." Robert Krulwich (born 1947), radio and television journalistSteinberg, Maxwell. "Richard Engel ‘92, Reporting on the Global Picture from Abroad" , The Riverdale Review, April 6, 2023. Accessed March 17, 2024. John Lahr (born 1941), theater critic David Levin (born 1963), CEO of McGraw-Hill EducationStaff. "Riverdale alum addresses seniors" , Riverdale Press, June 19, 2008. Accessed May 8, 2017. "David Levin, a Riverdale alumnus who founded the KIPP Academy charter school in the South Bronx, gave the commencement address."Dwyer, Liz. "Your Favorite Public Education Reformer Probably Went to Private School", Good Worldwide, April 20, 2011. Accessed May 8, 201. Lee MacPhail (1917–2012), Baseball Hall-of-Fame front-office executiveFitzpatrick, Frank. "MacPhail continues family's baseball tradition with Phillies", Philadelphia Inquirer, October 2, 2015. Accessed March 6, 2017. "He also played the game throughout his youth, at Riverdale Country Day School in the Bronx, with the amateur New Rochelle Robins, and finally at Dickinson." Chloe Malle (born 1985), head of editorial content at Vogue