Rochester, New York in the United States is or has been home to many famous people from past and present times. These people have been businessmen, civil rights activists, politicians, entertainers, educators and much more. A list of their names is below.

• Martin Brewer Anderson (first president of University of Rochester)
• Susan B. Anthony (civil rights leader)
• Johnny Antonelli (baseball player)
• Josh Arieh (Professional Poker Player)
• Andrea Barrett (writer)
• Philip Barry (playwright)
• Eric Bauman (founder of eBaum's World)
• John Jacob Bausch (co-founder of Bausch & Lomb)
• Tyson Beckford (model)
• Kenneth Bianchi (One of the Hillside Stranglers)
• Boris Bittker (legal academic)
• Antoinette Brown Blackwell (first female minister in the United States)
• Bernie Boland (baseball player)
• Claude Fayette Bragdon (architect)
• Douglas Brei (sports historian)
• Foster Brooks (Comedian)
• Angelo Buono, Jr. (One of the Hillside Stranglers)
• William Seward Burroughs I
• Ryan Callahan (NHL player)
• Cab Calloway (singer/bandleader)
• Tom Chiarella (writer/fiction editor Esquire magazine)
• Francis Pharcellus Church
• Julie Lynn Cialini (model and actress)
• Jordan Clarke (actor)
• Colin Delaney (professional wrestler)
• David Diamond (composer)
• Taye Diggs (actor)
• Frederick Douglass (abolitionist, born in Maryland, long-time Rochester resident, interred in Rochester's Mt. Hope Cemetery)
• Pete Duel (actor)
• Duke Jupiter (late 70's/early 80's rock band, hit song "I'll Drink To You")
• George Eastman (Kodak founder, philanthropist)
• Garth Fagan (Choreographer, native of Jamaica and long-time Rochester resident)
• Rory Fitzpatrick (NHL player)
• Renée Fleming (Opera singer born in Pennsylvania but raised in Rochester)
• Robert Forster (actor)
• Kate, Leah, and Margaret Fox (early Spiritualists)
• Lanny Frattare (Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster)
• Steve Gadd (jazz drummer)
• Frank Gannett (founder of Gannett Newspapers, presidential candidate)
• Teddy Geiger (musician/actor)
• Brian Gionta (NHL player)
• Stephen Gionta (Hockey player)
• Malcolm Glazer (businessman)
• Emma Goldman (anarchist)
• Tom Golisano (Paychex founder, philanthropist, gubernatorial candidate, owner Buffalo Sabres NHL team)
• Kim Gordon (bass player and lead singer of Sonic Youth)
• Lou Gramm (lead singer of Foreigner)
• Seth Green (Rochester born, pioneer in fish farming)
• Heinie Groh (baseball player)
• Emil Gruppe (Impressionist artist)
• Nicholas Gurewitch (creator of The Perry Bible Fellowship comic strip)
• Mick Guzauski (mixer and sound engineer)
• Walter Hagen (golfer)
• Adolphus Hailstork (composer)
• Howard Hanson (composer and conductor)
• Davey Havok (Musician. Born in Rochester, raised in Ukiah, California.)
• Edward D. Hoch (mystery writer)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (Oscar-winning actor)
• Son House (bluesman rediscovered in Rochester)
• Ken Kaiser (baseball umpire)
• Garson Kanin (writer)
• Philip Kapleau Brought Zen Buddhism to western mainstream 1964. Formed Rochester Zen Center still in use today.
• Mollie Katzen (author)
• Bob Keegan (baseball player)
• Mimi Kennedy (actress)
• Norman Kerry (silent film actor)
• Charlene Keys (singer, a.k.a Tweet)
• Frank LaLoggia (film director of Lady in White and "Fear No Evil")
• Vanessa Lane (porn actress)
• Joanie Laurer (wrestler, a.k.a. Chyna)
• Hudson Leick (actress, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but raised in Rochester)
• John Lithgow (actor, raised in Ohio)
• Joe Locke (Jazz vibraphonist born in California, but raised in Rochester)
• Henry Lomb (co-founder of Bausch & Lomb)
• Art Long (former NBA basketball player)
• Lydia Lunch (singer, poet, writer and actress)
• Chuck Mangione (conductor, arranger, flugelhornist)
• Gap Mangione (jazz pianist, composer, arranger and band-leader)
• Jerre Mangione writer
• Clem McCarthy (sportscaster)
• Chuck McCoy (disk jockey)
• Jason McElwain (personality)
• Pamela Melroy (astronaut)
• Carolyn Merchant (philosopher)
• Mitch Miller (bandleader)
• Gorilla Monsoon (wrestler)
• Helen Barrett Montgomery (social reformer and women’s activist)
• Hugh O'Brian (actor)
• Danny Padilla (bodybuilder)
• Michael Park (daytime actor, Broadway actor)
• Linda Sue Park (author of children's fiction)
• Sam Patch (daredevil - died jumping Genesee Falls in 1829, interred in Charlotte Cemetery)
• Robert Putnam (Harvard Professor)
• William F. Quinn (governor of Hawai'i)
• Charley Radbourn (baseball player)
• Walter Rauschenbusch (theologian)
• Marty Reasoner (NHL player)
• Tim Redding (baseball player)
• Frank Ritter (Dental chair pioneer, philanthropist)
• Benjamin Titus Roberts {Founder of the Free Methodist Church}
• Richard Ryder (actor)
• Richard Saeger (freestyle swimmer)
• Savanna Samson (porn actress)
• Blanche Stuart Scott (first American aviatrix)
• George B. Selden (lawyer and inventor)
• Joel Seligman (current President of University of Rochester)
• Arthur Shawcross (serial killer)
• F. Ritter Shumway (US Figure Skating leader, philanthropist)
• Hiram Sibley (Western Union founder)
• Mike Sigel (Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer)
• Joyce Sims (vocalist, songwriter, pianist)
• Jeff Sluman (PGA Tour golfer)
• Clarence Stein (urban planner, architect and writer who advocated for the garden city movement in the US)
• Bill Stern (sportscaster)
• Jennifer Stuczynski (pole-vaulter)
• Brennan Swain (actor)
• Robert R. Thomas (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois; former NFL football player)
• Cathy Turner (Olympic gold medalist, Short-Track Speedskating)
• Jason Turner (sport shooter) (Olympic bronze medalist in air pistol)
• Jeff Tyzik (conductor, arranger, trumpeter)
• John Viavattine (saxophonist, band teacher, member of Mambo Kings)
• Tom Villard (T.V. and film actor Heartbreak Ridge & One Crazy Summer) (raised in Spencerport, New York)
• Bill Wadhams (singer in '80's new-wave group Animotion)
• John Wallace (professional basketball player)
• Jimmy Wallington (radio announcer)
• Lee Hom Wang (singer)
• William Warfield (singer, born in Arkansas; raised in Rochester)
• Hulbert Harrington Warner (wealthy maker of patent medicines and patron of Astronomy)
• Abby Wambach (soccer player)
• Lee-Hom Wang (Asian pop/hip hop superstar)
• Irv Weinstein (iconic Buffalo news anchor)
• Kristen Wiig (Comedian, Saturday Night Live castmember)
• Frances Willard (suffragist and temperance reformer)
• Roland Williams (NFL tightend)
• Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics (singer)
• Joseph C. Wilson (Xerox)
• Wendy Wyland ('84 Olympic medalist, Diving)

Some students of note:

• Reverend Francis Bellamy (wrote the Pledge of Allegiance) attended University of Rochester and Rochester Theological Seminary
• Reverend Dr. Howard Thurman attended Colgate Rochester Divinity School.

References