We plan to use this space to facilitate announcients, discussions, and contacts among Philolexian alumni. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please contact Perry Metzger.

You will note that as a Philolexian alum, you are in good company.

Prominent Members of the Philolexian Society

Nathaniel F. Moore (1802): President of Columbia College

John L. Lawrence (1803): Comptroller of New York City

James Alexander Hamilton (1805): Son of Alexander Hamilton; Acting U.S. Secretary of State

Henry Ustick Onderdonk (1805) (P): Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania

Edmund H. Pendleton (1805): U.S. Congressman

William M. Price (1805): U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York

Peter D. Vroom (1808): U.S. Congressman; Governor of New Jersey; U.S. Minister to Prussia

Henry Vethake (1808): Provost, University of Pennsylvania; President, Washington College

Hugh Maxwell (1808): District Attorney of New York City; Collector of the Port of New York

Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk (1809) (P): Episcopal Bishop of New York

William B. Astor (1811): Son of John Jacob Astor; wealthiest man in the United States

Charles G. Ferris (1811): U.S. Congressman

Stephen Watts Kearny (1812): Commander, U.S. Army of the West; military governor of California, Vera Cruz and Mexico City

James I. Roosevelt, Jr. (1815): U.S. Congressman; U.S. District Attorney, Southern District of New York

Frederic de Peyster, Jr. (1816): President, New-York Historical Society

Samuel L. Gouverneur (1817) (P): Postmaster of New York City

William Beach Lawrence (1818) (P): Acting Governor of Rhode Island

James Lenox (1818): President, New York Chamber of Commerce; bibliophile whose collection helped form basis of New York Public Libary

John Lloyd Stephens (1822): Explorer of the Yucatan, Holy Land, and Eastern Europe; U.S. Special Ambassador to Central America; President, Panama Railroad

Horatio Allen (1823): Imported and operated first successful locomotive engine in the Americas

John McKeon (1825): U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York; U.S. Congressman

Hamilton Fish (1827) (P): U.S. Senator; Governor of New York; U.S. Secretary of State; Chairman of the Columbia Trustees

Theodore Sedgwick (1827): U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York

Robert Emory (1831): President, Dickinson College

John L. O'Sullivan (1831): Editor, United States Magazine and Democratic Review; coined term "Manifest Destiny"; U.S. Minister to Portugal

Isaac Clason Delaplaine (1834): U.S. Congressman

John Richardson Thurman (1835): U.S. Congressman

Samuel Blatchford (1837): Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

George Templeton Strong (1838) (P): Treasurer, U.S. Sanitary Commission; noted diarist and chronicler of New York City

William Riggin Travers (1838): President, New York Athletic Club; founder, the Travers Stakes

Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (1841): President, National Academy of Sciences

James H. Mason Knox (1841) (P): President, Lafayette College

Abram S. Hewitt (1842) (P): U.S. Congressman; Mayor of New York City; Chairman, Democratic National Committee

Frederick Samuel Tallmadge (1845): Founder, Sons of the Revolution; accomplished purchase and preservation of Fraunces Tavern, site of George Washington's farewell to his officers

William Backhouse Astor (1849): Financier; husband of Mrs. Astor, co-founder of "The 400"

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1858): President, U.S. Naval War College; author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783

Edgar M. Cullen (1860): Chief Judge, New York State Court of Appeals

John Howard Van Amringe (1860): First Dean of Columbia College

Edward Mitchell (1861): U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York

Nicholas Fish (1867): U.S. Minister to Switzerland and Belgium

George Lockhart Rives (1868): U.S. Assistant Secretary of State; Chairman of the Columbia Trustees

Wm. Milligan Sloane (1868): President, American Academy of Arts and Letters; coach of first U.S. Olympic team, Athens, 1896

Willard Bartlett (1869) (P): Chief Judge, New York State Court of Appeals

Hamilton Fish, Jr. (1869): U.S. Congressman; Speaker of the New York State Assembly

Robert Fulton Cutting (1871): President, Cooper Union

Brander Matthews (1871): First professor of Dramatic Literature in the United States

John Buckley Pine (1877) (P): Clerk of the Columbia Trustees; suggested Morningside Heights as future site of Columbia University

William Barclay Parsons (1879) (P): Chairman of the Columbia Trustees; chief engineer, NYC Rapid Transit Commission

J. Mayhew Wainwright (1884): U.S. Congressman; Asst. Secretary of War

James W. Gerard (1890): U.S. Ambassador to Germany, 1914-1917

John Purroy Mitchel (1899): Collector of the Port of New York; Mayor of New York City

Alfred Harcourt (1904): Publisher; Co-founder and President, Harcourt Brace & World

Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1908): Poet, author of "Trees"

V. K. Wellington Koo (1909): Premier and foreign minister of China; Ambassador to the United States; Member of the International Court of Justice

J. Ward Melville (1909): President, Melville Shoe Corp.; founder, Thom McAn Shoes

William R. Langer (1910): U.S. Senator; Governor of North Dakota

Dixon Ryan Fox (1911) (P): President, Union College

Randolph S. Bourne (1912): Radical social critic and essayist; contributor, The New Republic and The Atlantic

Douglas McRae Black (1916): Publisher; President, Doubleday & Co.

Frederic R. Coudert, Jr. (1918): U.S. Congressman; campaign manager for Wm. F. Buckley, Jr. as New York City mayor

James Warner Bellah (1923): Author, short stories formed basis of John Ford classics Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande; Screenwriter, Sergeant Rutledge and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Sidney Buchman (1923): Screenwriter for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington; winner of the Academy Award for Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Elliott V. Bell (1925) (P): New York State Superintendent of Banks; Publisher, BusinessWeek

Lawrence A. Wien (1925): Pioneering real estate lawyer and Columbia philanthropist

Jacques Barzun (1927) (P): Provost and University Professor, Columbia University

William Ludwig (1932): Screenwriter for Oklahoma and The Great Caruso; winner of the Academy Award for Interrupted Melody; co-founder, Writers Guild of America

John Berryman (1936) (P): Poet; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for 77 Dream Songs

Robert Giroux (1936) (P): Publisher; Chairman and editor-in-chief, Farrar Straus & Giroux

Robert Marshak (1936): President, American Physical Society; President, City College of New York

Thomas Merton (1938): Trappist monk, author, humanist

Wm. Theodore de Bary (1941): Provost of Columbia University

I.A.L. Diamond (1941): Screenwriter for Some Like It Hot and The Fortune Cookie; 1961 Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay for The Apartment

Paul V. Governali (1943): Quarterback, New York Giants

Allen Ginsberg (1948) (P): Poet; Author of Howl; winner of the National Book Award

Robert N. Butler (1949): Geriatrician; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Why Survive? Being Old in America

Jason Epstein (1949): Editorial director, Random House; Co-founder, The New York Review of Books; Co-founder, The Library of America; Founder, Anchor Books

Carl Hovde (1950): Dean of Columbia College

Richard Howard (1951): Poet, critic, translator; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Untitled Subjects

Robert Gottlieb (1952): Editor-in-chief, Simon and Schuster; president and editor-in-chief, Alfred A. Knopf; editor, The New Yorker

Ben Stein (1966): Actor, entertainer, author

Garth Stein (1987): Author; co-producer, The Lunch Date, 1990 Academy Award winner for Best Live-Action Short Film

Gideon Yago (2000): MTV news correspondent