List of Willamette University alumni

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This is a list of the notable alumni of Willamette University, a post-secondary school in Salem, Oregon in the United States. Founded in 1842 as the Oregon Institute, alumni have included those in Congress, the state government, and in the federal and state courts.

Note that the people listed may have only attended the university and may not have graduated.

University

This includes alumni of the main school. Those who also attended one of the university's graduate schools are listed in those sections as well.

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
James Albaugh (b. 1950)		Boeing executive	[1]
Bruce Anderson (b. 1944)	1962–66	Linebacker in the National Football League	[2]
Vic Backlund (b. 1936)	1954–61	Oregon State Representative and Professional Baseball player	[3]
Thomas A. Bartlett (b. 1930)	1947–49	Educator, Chancellor of the State University of New York and the Oregon University System	[4]
Charles B. Bellinger (1839–1905)		Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon	[5]
Douglas H. Bosco (b. 1946)	1963–1968	U.S. Representative from California; also attended the law school	[6]
Bruce Botelho (b. 1948)	B.A. 1971	Alaska Attorney General and mayor of Juneau, Alaska; also attended the law school	[7]
George M. Brown (1864–1934)	Class of 1885	Oregon Attorney General and justice on the Oregon Supreme Court	[8]
James M. Brown (b. 1941)	Class of 1964	Oregon Attorney General and county district attorney	[9]
Winifred Byrd (1884–1970)		Concert pianist and educator
J. R. Campbell (b. 1918)	B.A. 1940	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court and judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals; also attended the law school	[10]
Daryl Chapin (1906-1995)		Physicist best known for co-inventing solar cells	[11]
Terry Cooney (b. 1933)		Former Major League Baseball umpire
James Cuno (b. 1951)	Class of 1973	Art historian and museum director
Robert Eakin (1848–1917)	Class of 1873	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court	[8]
Sam Farr (b. 1941)	B.S. 1963	U.S. Representative from California	[12]
James Martin Fitzgerald (b. 1920)	B.A. 1950	Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Alaska and the Alaska Supreme Court; also attended the law school	[13]
Theodore Thurston Geer (1851–1924)		Governor of Oregon	[8]
Melvin Clark George (1849–1933)		U.S. Representative from Oregon	[8]
Alonzo Gesner (1842–1912)		Oregon State Senator	[14]
Joseph K. Gill (1841–1931)	1864–1865	Founder of J. K. Gill Company	[8]
Edith Green (1910–1987)	1927–1929	U.S. Representative from Oregon	[15]
Andrew Halcro (b. 1964)		Member of the Alaska House of Representatives	[16]
Bert E. Haney (1879–1943)		Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit	[17]
Mark Hatfield (1922–2011)	1940–1943	Governor of Oregon, United States Senator, and state legislator	[18]
Willis C. Hawley (1864–1941)	Class of 1888	Congressman, president of Willamette; also attended the law school	[19]
Liz Heaston (b. 1977)	Class of 1999	First woman to score in a college football game	[20]
Thomas Hemingway	Class of 1962	Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force; also attended the law school	[21]
Chauncey Hosford (1820–1911)		Minister and educator, attended the Oregon Institute	[22]
Charles A. Johns (1857–1932)	B.A. 1878	Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and Supreme Court of the Philippines	[8]
Daniel Jones (1830–1891)		Leader in the Methodist Episcopal church, first African American student at Willamette	[23]
Randall B. Kester (b. 1916)	Class of 1937	Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court	[24]
Jeff Kruse (b. 1951)	B.S.	Oregon State Senator	[25]
Harry Lane (1855–1917)	Class of 1876	Mayor of Portland, U.S. Senator; also attended the medical school	[26]
Richard Laymon (1947–2001)	B.A.	Horror writer	[27]
Cal Lee (b. 1946)		Football coach	[28]
Susan M. Leeson (b. 1946)	B.A. 1968	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court; also attended the law school	[29]
Lesil McGuire (b. 1971)	B.A. 1993	Member of the Alaska House of Representatives and the Alaska State Senate; also attended the law school	[30]
Charles L. McNary (1874–1944)		United States Senator from Oregon and 1940 Republican Vice-Presidential nominee	[31]
John Hugh McNary (1867–1937)		Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon	[32]
Alex J. Mandl (b. 1943)		Businessman, former president of AT&T	[33]
Peter K. Manning (b. 1940)	B.A. 1961	Academic, professor at Michigan State University	[34]
Robert A. Miller (1854–1941)		Politician, member of the Oregon House of Representatives	[35]
Laurie Monnes Anderson (b. 1945)	B.A. 1968	Member of the Oregon House of Representatives	[36]
Charles S. Moore (1857–1915)	1872–1874	Oregon State Treasurer and county judge	[37]
Charles B. Moores (1849–1930)	B.A. 1870	Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives	[38]
Merrill Moores (1856–1929)		U.S. Representative from Indiana	[39]
Dale T. Mortensen (b. 1939)	B.A. 1961	Professor at Northwestern University; 2010 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics	[40]
Bob Packwood (b. 1932)	Class of 1954	United States Senator from Oregon	[41]
Patricia Price	B.A., B. Mus. 2004	Music producer	[42]
Skip Priest	B.A.	Member of the Washington House of Representatives	[43]
Tobias Read (b. 1975)	B.A. (1997)	Oregon State Treasurer, Member of the Oregon House of Representatives	[44]
John W. Reynolds (b. 1875)	A.B (1895) A.M. (1897)	Dean of the law school	[45]
Samuel T. Richardson (1857–1921)	B.A. 1892	Educator and dean of the law school; also attended the law school	[46]
Nancy Ryles (1937–1990)		Member of the Oregon House of Representatives, Senate, and Public Utility Commission	[47]
Ron Saxton (b. 1954)	Class of 1976	Attorney, two-time candidate for Oregon Governor	[48]
Herb Schmalenberger (1925–2006)		College football coach	[49]
Frederick Schwatka (1849–1892)		Explorer of the Arctic	[50]
Al Siebert (1934–2009)	B.S.	Psychology author and educator	[51]
Otto Richard Skopil, Jr. (b. 1919)	B.A. 1941	Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; also attended the law school	[52]
Robert Freeman Smith (b. 1931)	B.A. 1953	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 2nd district; Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives	[53]
Vic Snyder (b. 1947)	B.A. 1975	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's 2nd district	[54]
Winlock W. Steiwer (1852–1920)	Class of 1971	Oregon state senator and county judge	[55]
Nick Symmonds (b. 1983)	Class of 2006	Distance runner, 2008 Olympian, seven NCAA Div. III titles	[56]
Andy Tillman (b. 1952)	c. 1970	A founder of the US llama industry	[57]
Isaac Homer Van Winkle (1870–1943)	Class of 1898	Oregon Attorney General and dean of the College of Law; also attended the law school	[58]
John B. Waldo (1844–1907)	Class of 1866	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court	[59]
William Waldo (1832–1911)		President of the Oregon State Senate	[59]
Kim Wallan	B.S.	Member of the Oregon House of Representatives; also attended the law school	[60]
Marie Watt (b. 1967)	Class of 1990	Artist	[61]
Dick Weisgerber		Football player	[62]
Edward Curtis Wells (1910–1986)		Businessman, vice president at Boeing Company	[63]
Frank K. Wheaton (b. 1951)		Agent and actor
Richard Williams (1836–1914)		Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's At-large district	[64]
John N. Williamson (1855–1943)		Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 2nd district	[65]
Parish L. Willis (1838–1917)	B.A. 1865	Oregon State Senator	[66]
Greg Zerzan		Federal government administrator; also attended the law school	[67]

College of Law

This includes alumni of the College of Law. Those who also attended one of the university's other schools are listed in those sections as well.

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
William A. Barton	J.D. 1972	Trial attorney	[68]
Douglas H. Bosco (b. 1946)	J.D. 1971	U.S. Representative from California; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[6]
Bruce Botelho (b. 1948)	J.D. 1976	Alaska Attorney General and mayor of Juneau, Alaska; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[7]
Jay Bowerman (1876–1957)	1893–1896	Former Governor of Oregon	[8]
J. R. Campbell (b. 1918)	J.D. 1942	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court and judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[10]
Wallace P. Carson, Jr. (b. 1934)	J.D. 1962	Former Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court	[69]
Paul De Muniz	J.D. 1975	Current Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court	[70]
James Martin Fitzgerald (1920–2011)	LL.B. 1951	Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Alaska and the Alaska Supreme Court; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[13]
Jeffrey Grayson (1942–2009)		Co-founder of Capitol Consultants and convicted white collar criminal	[71]
Mark Hatfield (1922–2011)		Former Oregon Secretary of State, Governor, and longtime U.S. Senator; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[72]
Willis C. Hawley (1864–1941)	LL.B. 1888	Congressman from Oregon and president of Willamette University; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[73]
Thomas Hemingway	J.D. 1965	Brigadier general in the United States Air Force; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[74]
Fern Hobbs (1883–1964)	LL.B. 1913	Implemented martial law in Copperfield, Oregon, while serving as private secretary to the Governor of Oregon	[75]
Edward H. Howell (1915–1994)	LL.B. 1940	Oregon Supreme Court justice	[76]
Jay Inslee (b. 1951)	J.D. 1976	Current Governor of Washington State, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington state	[77]
Faith Ireland	J.D. 1969	Justice on the Washington Supreme Court	[78]
Jeffrey Ryan Jones	J.D./M.B.A. 2001	General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, WEG
Joshua M. Kindred (b. 1977)	J.D. 2005	Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Alaska	[79]
Susan M. Leeson (b. 1946)	J.D. 1981	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[29]
Berkeley Lent (1921–2007)	J.D. 1950	Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and member of both chambers of the Oregon Legislative Assembly	[10]
Virginia Linder	J.D. 1980	Oregon Supreme Court justice	[80]
Amanda Marshall	J.D. 1995	United States Attorney	[81]
William M. McAllister (1896–1986)	LL.B. 1928	Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives	[82]
John McCourt (1874–1924)	Class of 1896	Justice on the Oregon Supreme Court	[83]
Lesil McGuire (b. 1971)	J.D. 1998	Member of the Alaska Senate and House; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[30]
Conde McCullough (1887–1946)	LL.B. 1928	Bridge designer and civil engineer	[84]
Bob Mionske (b. 1962)		U.S. Olympic racing cyclist
James W. Mott (1883–1945)	LL.B. 1917	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon	[85]
Lisa Murkowski (b. 1957)	J.D. 1985	United States Senator from Alaska	[86]
Albin W. Norblad (1939–2014)		Oregon state circuit court judge	[87]
E. M. Page (1893–1959)	Class of 1913	Oregon Supreme Court justice	[88]
Steven Powers	J.D. 2001	Oregon Court of Appeals; first Filipino American male.
Benjamin Hale Settle (b. 1947)	J.D. 1972	Federal judge in Washington state	[89]
Norma Paulus (b. 1933)	LL.B. 1962	Oregon Secretary of State and Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction	[90]
Otto Richard Skopil, Jr. (b. 1919)	LL.B. 1946	Federal judge in Oregon and for the Ninth Circuit	[91]
John F. Steelhammer		Oregon Speaker of the House
Kenneth S. Stern	J.D.	Defense lawyer	[92]
Charles Swindells		Former American ambassador and businessman
Isaac Homer Van Winkle (1870–1943)	Class of 1901	Oregon Attorney General and dean of the College of Law; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[58]
Kim Wallan	J.D.	Member of the Oregon House of Representatives; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[60]
Jennifer Williamson	J.D. 2001	Democratic politician who represented Oregon's 36th District in the Oregon House of Representatives. She served as Majority Leader from 2015 to 2019.
Walter C. Winslow (1882–1962)	LL.B. 1908	Justice pro tempore of the Oregon Supreme Court	[93]
Stephen K. Yamashiro (1941–2011)	JD 1969	Mayor of Hawaii County	[94]
Leon Rene Yankwich (1888–1975)	LL.B. 1909	Federal district court judge in California	[95]
Greg Zerzan		Federal government administrator; also attended Willamette as an undergraduate	[67]

Others

This includes alumni of the Atkinson Graduate School of Management and the defunct College of Medicine. Those who also attended one of the university's other schools are listed in those sections as well.

Name	Attended	Notability	Reference
Jason Atkinson (b. 1970)	Atkinson (1997)	Member of the Oregon Senate and House of Representatives	[96]
Sandy Baruah	Atkinson	Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development in the United States Commerce Department	[97]
David Gomberg	Atkinson (1981)	Member of the Oregon House of Representatives	[98]
Augustus C. Kinney (1845–1908)	Medicine (1869)	Research on tuberculosis	[8]
Harry Lane (1855–1917)	Medicine (1878)	Mayor of Portland and U.S. Senator	[99]
Patricia Price	Atkinson (2009)	Music producer	[42]
Punit Renjen (b. 1961)	Atkinson (1986)	Businessperson	[100]
Levi L. Rowland (1831–1908)	Medicine (1872)	Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction and Superintendent of Oregon State Insane Asylum	[101]
Loyal B. Stearns (1853–1936)	Medicine	Member of the Oregon House of Representatives and judge	[8]

See also

• List of people from Oregon