Distinguished Alumni

Raymond B. Fosdick '01
Undersecretary General of United Nations, Head of Rockefeller Foundation, President of NYC Board of Education.

Harold LeRoy Olmsted '03
Artist, painter, professional architect & consultant, landscape designer & architect, lecture, teacher, and etcher especially known for his landscape paintings.

David Lawrence ’06
Conservative newspaperman and syndicated columnist.  In 1933, Lawrence founded a weekly newspaper called United States News a weekly newspaper that he later merged in 1948 with his weekly magazine, World Report, to form the news magazine U.S. News & World Report.  At the time of Lawrence's 1973 death, the magazine had a circulation of 2 million.  On April 22, 1970, Lawrence was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.

Rexford Tugwell ’11
Assistant Secretary (1933) and Under Secretary of Agriculture (1934-37) under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 1941 until 1946.

Edward A. Rath ’18
First County Executive of Erie County, NY.  Namesake of Rath County Office Building in downtown Bufalo.

Sidney Farber M.D. '20
Pioneer cancer scientist, doctor and founder of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

Walter "Wally" Koppisch ’20
A halfback who led his team to three consecutive Harvard Cup championships and went on to star at Columbia University, where he captained the Lions for three seasons. While playing in Columbia's backfield, Koppisch was teammates with future New York Yankee, Lou Gehrig. In 1923 and 1924 he received All-American honors. In 1981 he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Koppich went on to play in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bisons and New York Giants. At 23 years old, Koppisch, was named the head coach and a player for the Buffalo Bisons, making him among the youngest head coaches in NFL history. Koppisch remained in New York City after his playing career and became a stockbroker. At one point, he was a business partner of Lou Gehrig, his former Columbia teammate.

Jimmy Slattery ’21
Professional boxer in the Light Heavyweight (175lb) division and World Light Heavyweight champion in 1927 and 1930.  The street, 'Jimmy Slattery Place', in South Buffalo was named in his honor in 2006.  Enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Catherine "Kit" Klein ’28
Won Bronze and Gold Demonstration Medals in the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid for Speed Skating. In 1936 she won the World Skating Championship, Stockholm Sweden. She also competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany winning another demonstration gold.  She captured several National and North American championships as well as setting world record times.  Klein was the third women ever to be a ‘Wheatie’s Box Champion’.  She was elected to the Women's Sports, Speedskating and Amateur Speedskating Halls of Fame, and was one of the most celebrated athletes of the 1930's.

Frank Pytlak '28
Nicknamed "Rabbit" was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Cleveland Indians (1932–40) and Boston Red Sox (1941 and 1945–46). After retirement from the MLB, he was named coach at Buffalo’s Neumann High School in April 1948. On June 1 of that year, he was named manager of the New Castle (Pennsylvania) Chiefs of the Middle Atlantic League, and managed the team for 18 days, during which he “pulled the team out of a losing slump” and then resigned. He was hired by Dick Fischer Athletic Goods, a sporting-goods store in Buffalo, and worked there until his retirement in 1975. He died in Buffalo at age 68.

Bea Massman ’32
Won 14 U.S. titles in badminton and coached for decades including serving as the first woman coach of a boy's tennis team in New York State.  Member of the U.S. Lifetime Sports Hall of Fame and the US Badminton Hall of Fame.

Richard Hofstadter ’33
Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, American public intellectual of the 1950s, historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. In the course of his career, Hofstadter became the “iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus” whom twenty-first century scholars continue consulting, because his intellectually engaging books and essays remain pertinent to illuminating contemporary history.

Robert E. Schmidt ’33 (aka “Buffalo Bob Smith")
Television celebrity who gained enormous following among American children in the 1950's with his sidekick Howdy Doody.

Sydney (Cohen) Cole '34
As an airman during WWII, Cole is credited with incredible heroism both in the air and as a POW helping to keep hundreds of his fellow POW's alive. He was awared the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Air Medal, POW Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars, World War II Victory Medal, and Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII. As well as a Canadian War Medal. Cole was also a top swimmer in the Buffalo Public Schools from 1930-1933.

Dr. Jerome Kassirer M.D. ’50
Well-known national crusader on ethical issues in medicine in the United States, as well as the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine for many years.

Lucille Clifton ’53
Distinguished American poet who was a 1988 finalist for the Pulitzer prize, was awarded the national Book Award in 2000, and was the first African-American Woman to ever with the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a $100,000 award that is one of American poetry’s signal honors.  The Poetry Society of America posthumously awarded her its highest honor, The Robert Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime achievement in American poetry.

Edith Johnson-Miller '63
Winner of five National Women's Bicycle Championships and three national spped-skating championships. Her first win was in 1960 while she was a student at Fosdick-Masten Park. During the winter, she competed in speed-skating. Her times made her eligible for the 1960 U.S Olympic women’s speed-skating team, but she did not have the financial support to travel to the 1960 Games in Rome. She was the youngest female competitor to win a title in both sports. After winning her second national cycling title in 1961, she was featured in Sports Illustrated as a 15-year-old speed-skater with Olympic potential and received the key to the city from Buffalo mayor Frank Sedita.

Crystalea Burns-Pelletier ’78
First female Deputy Commissioner of the Buffalo Police Department.

Connie Porter ’78
Author of the Addy book series of the American Girls Collection for young readers, which has sold more than three million copies as well as All-Bright Court, selected by the American Library Association as one of the Best Books of 1991 and by the New York Times as one of its Notable Books of 1991.  Also the author of Imani All Mine.

Curtis Williams ’80
Musician and writer with Kool and the Gang.  Co-author of the City Honors School alma mater.

Leecia Eve ’82
A Harvard Law School graduate who ran for NYS lieutenant governor in 2006. She was also a Senior Policy advisor to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 2008 primary campaign for President, and her Maryland political director.

Dexter Johnson Ph.D. '82
Chief of the Structural Systems Dynamics Branch at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York and is the author of numerous professional papers and publications.

Michelle Leftwich '82
Joined the NBA league office in 1996 and was vice president and assistant general counsel. Joined the NBA's Atlanta Hawks in Fall 2017 as vice president of salary cap administration. She received her B.S. from Canisius College, obtained her CPA credentials in 1992, and her J.D. from New York University in 1993.

Megan Smith ’82
Founder and current CEO of shift7, Smith was named Chief Technology Officer of the United States of America in September 2014. Smith is co-founder of the Malala Fund. Before her tenure as CTO of the USA, she was Vice President, New Business Development, Google.com; General Manager, Google.org. She joined Google in 2003 and led several of the company's acquisitions, including Keyhole (Google Earth), Where2Tech (Google Maps), and Picasa. She also co-led the company's early work with publishers for Google Book Search. Previously, Smith was the CEO and COO of PlanetOut. Smith holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT, where she now serves on the board.

Lisa Graziano Ph.D. '83
Lisa is the co-owner and Managing Editor of Leapfrog Press. She spent ten years as a professor of oceanography at Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, MA before turning to a full-time writing career. She is the co-author of the 2008 book, Cretaceous Dawn along with her brother Michael ’85.

Louis Petrucci ’83
Former member of the Buffalo Board of Education, serving two separate terms, from 2007-2013 and 2018-2022. He was President of the Board for the 2011-12 school year and again during the in the 2021-22 school year.

John Licata ’83
Member of the Buffalo Board of Education from 2009-2014. John was elected to serve on the New York State Supreme Court in November 2021 and began his 14 year term in January 2022.

Mylous Hairston ’83
Local media icon and news anchor for WIVB-TV in Buffalo, NY from 1990-2011. Current President of the Hairston Communications Group.

Micah Fink '84
Micah is the founder of Common Good Productions and is an award-winning producer, director and writer specializing in international affairs, public health, and environmental issues. Over the last fifteen years, he has worked on more than three dozen films for clients including PBS Wide Angle, National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Wild, PBS Frontline, The Teaching Channel, and ABC News.

Eric Altbach '85

Eric is a Senior Vice President at Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors and has over 15 years of experience working on U.S.-Asia trade and economic relations in the public, private, and social sectors. He previously served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China Affairs, where he was responsible for Taiwan and China. He has also served as Director for Asian Economic Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) and held several roles at the U.S. Department of State, including as a Senior Economic Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, covering Asian Economic issues. 

Michael Graziano Ph.D. '85
Michael is co-owner of Leapfrog Press,alongside his sister Lisa ’83,  and is a Professor of Psychology at Princeton University. He is the author of several books including, The Divine Farce and God, Soul, Mind, Brain: A Neuroscientist's Reflections on the Spirit of the World.

Adam Martin ’85
Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder of Dave & Adam’s Card World, the third largest seller of trading card products in the world, behind only Wal-Mart and Target. The company also deals in sports memorabilia, holding exclusive contracts with numerous well-known professional athletes.

Jeff Schulman '85
Director of Athletics at the University of Vermont. He played for the University of Vermont's men's hockey team and graduated in 1989. He served as UVM's assistant director of athletics from 1993-2002, became the senior associate athletic director in 2002, and was promoted in 2016 to his current position.

Trina Burruss '86

Named President and CEO of United Way of Buffalo & Erie County in 2022 and previously served as COO for that organization. She currently serves as Board Chair of the Foundry, Vice President for First Shiloh Housing Corporation, and Treasurer and Budget Committee Chair for First Shiloh Baptist Church. She also serves on the Boards of Say Yes Buffalo, Buffalo Urban Development Corporation, and Leadership Buffalo.

Jonathan Daniels, MD '86

Jonathan was a pediatrician in Buffalo, one of the few Black male doctors serving Buffalo's Black community. He mentored students at UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and served as associate director of admissions until his death in 2022. He was also past president of the Medical Alumni Association.

Lisa Bell Wilson '87
Editorial Director at The Athletic. Formerly senior editor for sports at ESPN's The Undefeated and the executive sports editor of the Buffalo News from 2011-2017. Was the first (and to this day the only) African-American woman to run a sports department at a major metropolitan newspaper.

Craig Hannah '88
State Supreme Court Judge. Formerly Buffalo City Court Chief Judge. Judge Hannah served as a City Court Judge since January 2006. In May 2019 he was appointed Chief Judge of the Buffalo City Court and Supervising Judge for the 11 City Courts within the Eight Judicial District. He has risen to national fame as the presiding judge of the first opioid intervention court in the United States, established in May 2017. He has been featured by such major publications as the New York Times and NBC News.

Bennett Graebner '89
A television producer who is best known for his work on The Bachelor (2002), The Bachelorette (2003), Bachelor Pad (2010), Love at First Kiss (2016), and the Golden Bachelor (2023). He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English from Vassar College and received his MFA in Film Production from USC.

Joe Murphy '89
Founder/Owner of web development company Ingenious, Inc. Responsible for creating this website.

Michael LoCurto '89
Councilman, City of Buffalo, 2006-2015. A survivor and force for progress in our City, LoCurto was a heart transplant recipient in his teens and kidney transplant recipient in his 30s. He was the first recipient of the City Honors Foundation Alumni Award and he died in 2017. Each May, a graduating senior is awarded the Michael J. LoCurto '89 Justice Scholarship.

Peter Sauer '91
President and CEO of Calspan Holdings. In April 2021 the former Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Calspan Aerospace and Transportation Research/Development Corporation was named to this position, giving him leadership and strategic responsibility for the Calspan family of companies.

Dominic Verni '91
Vice President of Hospitality at Pegula Sports and Entertainment.

Bridget Finn '92
Competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia for USA synchronized swim team and was an alternate for the 1996 USA Gold Medal Olympic team.

Alan Evans ‘92 and Neal Evans ’94
Founding musicians of the band Soulive.  Soulive’s sound is a blend of soul, jazz, and hiphop that has opened new frontiers in music.  The band has opened for the Rolling Stones tours and gained an international following.

Edreys Wajed (Billy Drease Williams) '92

Edreys is a multidisciplinary creative artist based in Buffalo. He is a draftsman, painter, jeweler, designer, curator, hip-hop emcee, and produces under the pseudonym Billy Drease Williams on Deep Thinka Records. He is the co-proprietor of the entrepreneurial creative venture, Eat off Art, with his partner, and wife, Alexa Wajed. His work is featured on Buffalo's Freedom Wall. The Buffalo Sabres used his modified logo, Breaking Barriers in 2021 to honor former Sabers player Val James, the first African American player in the NHL.

Alexa Joan Givens Wajed '92

Alexa is a creative entrepreneur, visual artist, jewelry designer, and trained chef. She is the co-founder of Eat Off Art, along with her partner and husband, Edreys. Eat Off Art is a multi-dimensional agency, platform and affirmation all-in-one, providing transformative experiences through creativity, food and art.

Aaron Bartley '93
Co-founder of the Harvard Living Wage Campaign, which advocated on behalf of more than 2,000 of the university’s service workers. The campaign resulted in $10 million in annual wage and benefit increases for the workers it represented. Former executive director and co-founder of PUSH Buffalo which aggressively helped to stabilize and revitalize housing and neighborhoods in Buffalo.

Jake Halpern '93
Noted author and regular contributor to the New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times, The New Republic, Boston Magazine Online, and NPR’s All Things Considered. In April 2018, Halpern was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning for a series he and cartoonist Michael Sloan created. It chronicled a Syrian refugee family as they adjusted to their new life in the United States and ran in the New York Times from January to September 2017.

John Pfafff Ph.D., J.D. '93
Professor of Law who teaches criminal law, sentencing law, and law and economics. Before
coming to Fordham, he was the John M. Olin Fellow at the Northwestern University School of Law and clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. His 2017 book, Locked In, has received wide acclaim and was featured in 2018 on a segment of John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight."

Shaun Nelms Ed.D. '94
Associate Professor at the University of Rochester and Superintendent of Schools: Educational Partnership Organization at the University at Rochester in Rochester, NY. In April 2018, he received the State University of New York Educational Opportunity Program's 50th Anniversary Distinguished Alumni Award.

Malia Somerville '94
Following in the steps of former General Curators like Marlin Perkins, Malia Somerville became the General Curator of the Buffalo Zoo in fall 2013. She is responsible for managing the Zoo's entire animal collection.

Bill Burton '95
President Barack Obama's Press Secretary for the 2008 election campaign and was a Deputy White House Press Secretary for the Obama administration from February 2009 until March 2011. He was the California Managing Director for SKDKnickerbocker from January 2015 until December 2018. In December 2018 he formed Bryson Gillette, LLC., a minority-owned communications consulting firm in Los Angeles. He is a Political and Communications Specialist at the firm.

Gregory Halpern '95
Photojournalist, RIT professor and author of Harvard Works Because We Do.

Ben Toth '95
Musical director, film & theater composer, musical director, and vocal coach. He has written scores for both feature independent films and has served as musical director/vocal coach for some of the most popular actor/singers currently working on the stage, including Mandy Patinkin.  On November 18th, 2011, Ben made his Carnegie Hall debut, serving as Musical Director/Pianist/Arranger/Backup-singer for Cheyenne Jackson’s sold-out concert performance.

Susie Bartley '96
Winner of the 2014 OnPoint Prize for Excellence in Education. In 2013, she was awarded the NEA’s H. Councill Trenholm Human & Civil Rights award for her commitment to creating greater equity in public education. She teaches in the public school system of Portland, Oregon.

Steve Mesler '96
First Western New York Athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Member of the 2006 and 2010 United States Olympic Bobsled Team; 2009, 2010 United States World Cup Championship teams.  Holds several University of Florida/South East Conference decathlon records. Co-founder and President/CEO of Classroom Champions.

Lenika Vazquez '96
Head Coach of Northeastern University's Women's Volleyball team. She was the head coach of Canisius College's Division I volleyball program from 2016-2020. She graduated in 2001 from Southern Illinois. She became an assistant coach at Southern Illinois in 2002, went on to be head coach at Chicago State University and South Suburban College before becoming an assistant coach at Butler University in 2012.

Marcena Lozano '98
Marcena was born with a congenital heart defect and had her first operation when she was only a day old.  Her first open heart surgery when she was six months old. She was 13 when she had her first heart transplant. In 1996, she won four medals at the US Transplant Games in Salt Lake City. She graduated with her class and received a second heart transplant in 2003. She went on to major in Social Work at Buffalo State College. She died in August 2005 and her memory is kept alive with the Marcena Lozano Donate Life Scholarship Fund and massive annual ‘Elephant Run’ held each year in Buffalo.

Keith Sayres '98
Was an actor and television producer best known for his work on Survivor. He produced 80 episodes from 2021-2018. Keith graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Raina Lipsitz writes about politics and culture. Her work has appeared in Al Jazeera America, The Appeal, The Atlantic, The Conversationalist, The Nation, and The New Republic, among other publications. In 2016, the National Women’s Political Caucus honored her with an Exceptional Merit in Media Award (EMMA) for outstanding work on issues of importance to women and girls. She serves on the advisory board of New York Focus. In 2022, her book The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics, was published.

George Zornick '01
Senior Enterprise Editor, HuffPost. Formerly the Washington Editor of The Nation and Senior Reporter/Blogger for ThinkProgress.org

Jennifer Hanley '02
Astronomer at Lowell Observatory. A graduate of Cornell, who went on to receive her Ph.D. in Space & Planetary Science from the University at Arkansas, Hanley was one of the co-authors of the September 2015 scientific paper that helped NASA prove there is water on Mars.

Erin Heaney '05
Executive Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and former founding director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Heaney was previously a leader with STAND: a student-anti genocide coalition that became one of the largest student movements in the country.