List of Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni

This list of alumni of Ethical Culture Fieldston School includes graduates and non-graduate former students.

Jill Abramson – former executive editor of The New York Times Carolyn Adams – dancer, choreographer, teacher Debo Adegbile – civil rights attorney Clifford Alexander Jr. – former secretary of the Army George J. Ames – former Lazard executive Joseph Amiel – author Diane Arbus – photographerRubinfien, Leo. "Where Diane Arbus Went." Art in America, volume 93, number 9, pages 65-71, 73, 75, 77, October 2005. Mary T. Bassett – physician and public health researcher and public advocate Melinda Beck – artist Richard D. Brown – historian of colonial and revolutionary-era America; professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut Nancy Cantor – chancellor, Syracuse University Peter H. Christensen – academic Ernest Courant – physicist, known as the "father of modern particle accelerators" Jerry Craft – children's book author, cartoonist Ralph de Toledano – author Glen de Vries – entrepreneur in the field of medical science and pharmacology Andrew Delbanco – critic and author; director of American studies, Columbia University Nicholas Delbanco – novelist David Denby – film critic, The New Yorker Joseph Leo Doob – mathematician Douglas Durst – real estate magnate Francis Fergusson – literary critic and writer David Frankel – film maker Rita Gam – film actress Jim Gardner – longtime WPVI-TV news anchor Alan Gilbert – music director of the New York Philharmonic Ailes Gilmour – dancer Leonie Gilmour – educator and writer Rob Glaser – internet pioneer Matt Goldman – performance artist Maggie Haberman – The New York Times political reporter Patricia Harris – former deputy mayor of NYC, president of Bloomberg Philanthropies Judith Lewis Herman – psychiatrist Charles Herman-Wurmfeld – film director Robert Jervis – political scientist, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor, Columbia University Elizabeth Jonas – physician, neuroscientist, and professor, Yale School of Medicine Rodney Jones – jazz guitarist Bess Kalb – comedic writer, author and writer Jeffrey Katzenberg – film producer, media mogul Yosuke Kawasaki – violinist Sinah Estelle Kelley – chemist William Melvin Kelley – author (A Different Drummer, Dunfords Travels Everywhere) Charlie King – New York civic leader and politician Arthur Kinoy – civil rights lawyer Ernest Kinoy – screenwriter Walter Koenig – actor Joseph Kraft – public affairs columnist Jake Lamar – author, writer and playwright Louise Lasser – actress Christopher Lehmann-Haupt – author, The New York Times book reviewer Sean Ono Lennon – musician (did not graduate from Fieldston) Eda LeShan – child psychologist and author Carl P. Leubsdorf – Washington bureau chief, Dallas Morning News Doug Liman – film director (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) Susie Linfield – author, critic, editor and NYU professor Andrew Litton – conductor, New York City Ballet Beulah Livingstone – motion picture publicist Douglas Lowenstein – president and CEO of Private Equity Council, founder and former president of Entertainment Software Association Nicholas Lowry – auctioneer, poster expert and media personality Douglas Lowy – cancer biologist; director of U.S. National Cancer Institute Staughton Lynd – peace activist and civil rights activist Jeffrey Lyons – film critic, WNBC-TV, New York City Bob Marshall – conservationist, writer, and the founder of the Wilderness Society Andy Marvel – award-winning musician Grace M. Mayer – curator at the Museum of the City of New York and the Museum of Modern Art Jane Mayer – best selling author, investigative journalist, The New Yorker Zach McGowan – actor Marguerita Mergentime – industrial designer Nicholas Meyer – film director Mark A. Michaels – author and sexuality educator Jo Mielziner – stage designer Olivette Miller – jazz harpist Marvin Minsky – pioneer in artificial intelligence at MIT Tim Minton – television journalist and media executive Alfred Mirsky – cell biologist Jeannette Mirsky – writer Frederic S. Mishkin – governor of the Federal Reserve Board Joan Morgan – Jamaican-American writer and author Howard Nemerov – former United States Poet Laureate J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) – physicist, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, "father of the atomic bomb"Robert Oppenheimer, Spartacus Educational. Accessed March 29, 2024. "As a child Oppenheimer attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School." Jeremiah Ostriker – astrophysicist, Columbia University, Princeton University (provost 1995–2001) Eleanor Pepper (1904–1997) – architect, interior designer Marjorie Perloff (1931–2024) – poetry scholar and critic, known for her study of avant-garde poetryRisen, Clay. "Marjorie Perloff, Leading Scholar of Avant-Garde Poetry, Dies at 92", The New York Times, March 26, 2024. Accessed March 29, 2024. "The Mintzes lived in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.... She attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx and then Oberlin and Barnard, where she studied English and graduated in 1953." Emanuel R. Piore (1908–2000, class of 1926) – chief scientist of IBM, and electrical engineering pioneer"Paid Notice: Deaths PIORE, EMANUEL R.", The New York Times, May 24, 2000. Accessed March 29, 2024. "The Board of Trustees and the Ethical Culture Fieldston School community sadly note the death of Emanuel R. Piore, Class of 1926, a former Trustee." Belva Plain (1915–2010) – authorDixler, Elsa. "Belva Plain, Novelist of Jewish-American Life, Dies at 95", The New York Times, October 17, 2010. Accessed March 29, 2024. "Born Belva Offenberg in New York City on Oct. 9, 1915, she was a third-generation American of German Jewish descent; her father was a builder. She attended the Fieldston School and graduated from Barnard College in 1939 with a degree in history." Letty Cottin Pogrebin (born 1939) – author Susan Poser (born 1963) – president of Hofstra University Eve M. Troutt Powell – historian of Middle East Studies Edward R. Pressman (1943–2023) – film producerHagerty, James R. "Edward R. Pressman Produced Wall Street, American Psycho and Other Films", The Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. "Fieldston high school in New York, the bookish boy made an unlikely quarterback." Richard Ravitch – business and civic leader Nancy Reiner – graduating as Nancy Russek, cover artist of Jimi Hendrix album The Cry of Love (1971), among others Jonathan Rosand – neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital Menachem Z. Rosensaft – attorney and founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors Dan Rottenberg – journalist and author Muriel Rukeyser – poet and playwright David Sarasohn – associate editor and syndicated columnist for The Oregonian newspaper James H. Scheuer – US congressman (NY) Steven H. Scheuer – film and television historian and critic Daniel P. Schrag – climate scientist, geologist Harvard University Deborah Schrag – oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Gil Scott-Heron – musicianWisnieski, Adam "Fieldston prepped poet for untelevised revolution", Riverdale Press, June 8, 2011. Accessed March 17, 2025. Nicole Seligman – lawyer, Sony executive Alex Shapiro – composer and creator advocate Cynthia Propper Seton – novelist Laura Silber – author, former journalist and vice president for Advocacy and Communications at the Open Society Foundations Mariko Silver – former president of Bennington College, president of Luce Foundation Lucy Simon – composer, singer Stephen Slesinger – creator of the Red Ryder comic strip Tess Slesinger – author/screenwriter Alan B. Slifka – investor and philanthropist; founder of Big Apple Circus Jay Smooth – radio host and cultural commentator Donald J. Sobol – author of juvenile short stories; creator of Encyclopedia Brown Stephen Sondheim – composer; attended the Fieldston Lower School Dan Squadron – New York state senator Andy Stein – musician Stewart Stern – screenwriter Paul Strand – photographer and filmmaker A. G. Sulzberger – chairman of The New York Times Company; publisher of The New York Times James Toback – filmmaker Richard Tofel – journalist, attorney, administrator, nonfiction writer Doris Ulmann – photographer of Appalachia Laurence Urdang – lexicographer, dictionary editor Helen Valentine – founder of Seventeen magazine Elliot Villar – actor Andrew Weisblum – Oscar-nominated film editor Andrew Weissmann – attorney and professor Michael Wertheimer – psychologist and professor Chris Wink – performance artist; co-founder, Blue Man Group Howard Wolfson – deputy mayor of New York City Jane C. Wright – oncologist Keith L. T. Wright – New York State Assemblyman Sheryl WuDunn – investment banker, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Adam Yarmolinsky – academic and author who served in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations Eli Zabar – New York City restaurateur Lynn Zelevansky – museum curator

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