Admiral Farragut Academy - Famous Alumni

Famous Alumni

The Academy is perhaps most notable for graduating two of the twelve men who walked on the Moon:

• Rear Admiral Alan Shepard USN was the first American in space and in 1971 became the fifth person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission. Shepard graduated in 1941 from the New Jersey campus.
• Brigadier general Charles Duke, USAF, was a 1953 graduate of the St. Petersburg campus, and in 1972 became the tenth person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 16 mission. In the spring of 2006, NASA presented a moon rock to General Duke, who then donated it to the school. It is displayed in a showcase in front of the Quarter-Deck at the entrance to the main building, Farragut Hall.

• William Colepaugh, who defected to the Nazis in World War II, and who, later, was one of the last Nazi spies reaching the US.

• Richard Marcinko, author and former commanding officer of US Navy SEAL Team 2, is a graduate of Admiral Farragut Academy. Marcinko went on to become the first commanding officer of US Navy SEAL Team Six, a special maritime counter-terror unit.

• Martial artist and reality television star Lorenzo Lamas graduated in 1975 from the New Jersey Campus.

• Actor Casper Robert Van Dien graduated as third in command at Admiral Farragut Academy.

• Singer and Actor Eduardo Andonie graduated in 2010 from St. Petersburg Campus.

• Celebrity Chef Spike Mendelsohn, class of 2000, contested on both Top Chef and Top Chef: All Stars. A fan favorite in each season, Spike is now the creative genius and owner of "Good Stuff Eatery," a restaurant with locations on Capitol Hill and in Georgetown in The District of Columbia, as well as in the Crystal City business neighborhood of Northern Virginia.

Lieutenant General Sidney "Tom" Weinstein, ‘52N, was the Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence during the 1980s. He is recognized as the principal architect of the modern military intelligence corps, and was the crucial player in its expansion and professionalization.