Owosso, Michigan - Notable Residents

Notable Residents

• Thomas E. Dewey, lawyer, author, mob-busting District Attorney of New York City, three term Governor of New York (1942, 1946, 1950), and the Republican presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948.
• Alvin M. Bentley, philanthropist, foreign service officer and U.S. Congresssman. Bentley was one of the five congressmen injured on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on March 1, 1954, when Puerto Rican nationalist terrorists opened fire from the gallery.
• Charles A. Towne, U.S. Congressman and Senator. One of the few persons to have been elected to Congress from two different states: Minnesota and, later, New York. Sam Houston and Ham Lewis were others,
• William Ament, (1851–1909) controversial Congregational missionary to China (1877–1909), criticised by Mark Twain.
• John Perkins, scholar, artist, author, Under Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Controller of the State of Michigan, Professor Emeritus at the University of California Berkley and system-wide, President of the University of Delaware, and former Chairman of the Board of Dunn and Bradstreet.
• Frederick Carl Frieseke, early American impressionist artist whose work in France won many awards in Europe and North America. Frieseke had great influence on other artists and, for several years, he and Claude Monet were next door neighbors. Frieseke’s paintings adorn the walls of many of the world’s great art museums.
• Albert Spear Hitchcock, artist, author, botanical explorer, systematic agrostologist, and co-developer of the Smithsonian Institution’s Hitchcock-Chase Collection.
• Alfred D. Hershey, bacteriologist, director of genetics research at Carnegie Institution of Washington, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, and co-winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in medicine/physiology. Hershey, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1958, was also the 1958 winner of the Albert Lasker Award of the American Public Health Association, and the 1965 winner of the Kimber Genetics Award of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Lloyd R. Welch, Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California. Dr. Welch is the developer of the Welch Bound standard and the co-developer of the Baum-Welch algorithm. Dr. Welch was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1979, and he is the recipient of the 2003 Claude E. Shannon Award – the highest honor granted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Information Theory Society.
• Merle Lawrence, Professor Emeritus of Otolaryngology, Physiology and Psychology at the University of Michigan, first Director of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute, and the author and co-author of several books. Dr. Lawrence was the recipient of the Award of Merit from the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, the Gold Medal Award from the American Otological Society, the Distinguished Service Award form the Princeton Class of 1938, the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Audiology, etc. Dr. Lawrence was also a highly decorated W.W.II naval aviator.
• Harry Burns Hutchins, President of the University of Michigan from 1910 to 1920, Professor of Law and Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, organizer of the Cornell University Law School, Director of Owosso Public Schools during 1871 and 1872.
• James Oliver Curwood, conservationist and best-selling author of thirty-three novels. More than twenty movies were made of Curwood’s books and stories, including The Bear. The tourist attraction and museum now known as Curwood Castle in Owosso was built by Curwood to serve as his writing studio, and Mount Curwood (1978 ft) in Michigan’s upper peninsula was named in his honor.
• Diane Carey, author of forty-six novels including several Star Trek books, and seven New York Times Bestsellers.
• Gordon Graham, decorator, designer, artist, and author of children’s books.
• Betty Mahmoody, lecturer, advocate for the rights of women and children, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated, best-selling book, Not Without My Daughter: Escape from Iran. The book was the basis for the movie, Not Without My Daughter, which starred Sally Field and Alfred Molina. In 1990, Betty was voted Most Courageous Woman of the Year and Woman of the Year in Germany.
• Robert L. Gibson, actor who appeared in TV shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including Amazing Stories, Welcome to My Nightmare, Otherworld, Highway to Heaven, etc.
• Mel Schacher, bass guitarist and a vocalist for the rock band Question Mark and the Mysterians and, later, a co-founding member, bassist and vocalist for Grand Funk Railroad – a rock band that sold twenty-five million records and had four gold albums.
• Scott Kinsey, jazz keyboardist with several groups and best known for his work with Tribal Tech. Kinsey’s work is also part of many major motion picture soundtracks.
• Bobbi McCaughey, the Iowa mother, and wife of Kenny McCaughey, who made international news when she gave birth to septuplets in Des Moines on November 19, 1997.
• Cora Taylor, co-founder of Owosso’s Indian Trails Bus Line. On April 19, 1914, Cora Taylor became the first women in the United States to obtain a commercial chauffeur's license.
• Vicki Witt, known as "the ultimate girl next door" and the “Holy Grail” of Playboy Playmates. Miss August 1978
• C. Warren Thornthwaite, Professor of Climatology at Johns Hopkins University, adjunct professor at Drexel University, President of the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization, co-author of the book Water Balance, recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Association of American Geographers, and the Cullum Medal – the highest award of the American Geographical Society. His published research on climatology is considered to be some of the most influential of the twentieth century. His life is the subject of the book, The Genius of C. Warren Thornthwaite, Climatologist-Geographer. Dr. Thornthwaite also served as a teacher at Owosso High School from 1922 to 1924.
• John Tomac, bicycle racer, bicycle builder, and an icon in the mountain bike racing field. Tomac won more international mountain bike races than anyone else in the sport. He was voted the top all-around bike racer in the world in 1988, and was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1991.
• Chester Brewer, star athlete, coach and athletic director. Chester Brewer was a four sport star at the University of Wisconsin, and football coach at Michigan Agricultural College/Michigan State University for 1903 to 1910, 1917 and 1919 where he posted shutouts in 49 of 88 games and went undefeated in 43 straight home games. He also coached track, field, and cross country, and as baseball coach led his teams to a .564 record from 1904 to 1910, and coached the school’s basketball teams to a .736 record from 1904 to 1910. He served as athletics director and coach at the University of Missouri from 1910 to 1917, Director of Army Athletics for the U. S. War Department during 1918, served as director of athletics and professor of physical education from 1919 to1922 at MAC/Michigan State University, and held the same positions at the University of California-Davis until returning to Missouri where he served as athletics director until 1935. Brewer also coached his home town, Owosso, Michigan’s, West Side Indoor Baseball Team to win the world championship in 1905-1906.
• Bradlee Van Pelt, American football star. Bradlee Van Pelt, one of the all-time favorite quarterbacks for the Colorado State University Rams, set several records there during his years as a starter. He is currently a free agent and was last a backup quarterback for the Houston Texans of the NFL. Bradlee Van Pelt is the son of American football star, Brad Van Pelt. Bradlee Van Pelt was born in Owosso, but spent less than one year at Owosso High School.
• Brad Van Pelt, American football star. Van Pelt was a three sport star at Michigan State University. In football, he was a two-time All American, and in 1972 he became the first defensive back to win the Maxwell Award as the nation’s top collegiate football player. Van Pelt was a first round draft pick for the NFL where he played, from 1973 through 1986, with the New York Giants, the L.A. Raiders and the Cleveland Browns. Van Pelt was named the Giants’ Player of the Decade for the 1970s, and he was selected for the Pro Bowl five years in a row from 1976 through 1980. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002, and was recently nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He died of a heart attack in Harrison, MI. on February 17, 2009.
• Emile Benoit (writer) (Jerry Urick) - writer of the critically acclaimed Essays and Aphorisms on the Higher Man as well as the full length play A Midsummer Night's Hangover.
• Saltine aka The Mad Rapper (Jon H. Harris), recording artist, songwriter who gained international attention with his remake of the 60's classic "96 Tears" that featured the songs creator (?) Question Mark from the famed Question Mark & The Mysterians on backing vocals.