Upper Peninsula of Michigan - Notable Residents

Notable Residents

  • Former University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr is an alumnus of Northern Michigan University; he was quarterback for the school's football team during an undefeated season in 1967. He graduated from NMU in 1968 with his B.S. in education and went on to earn his M.A. in education administration at NMU in 1970.
  • James Tolkan, an American actor often cast as a strict, overbearing, bald-headed authority who played roles in Back to the Future and Top Gun was born in Calumet, Michigan.
  • Robert J. Flaherty, a filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film Nanook of the North in 1922 is from Iron Mountain.
  • George Gipp, the "Gipper"—immortalized in the film Knute Rockne, All American by Ronald Reagan—was born in Laurium. He was the first All-American at the Notre Dame football program.
  • Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, aircraft engineer and aeronautical innovator, was born in Ishpeming.
  • John Lautner, a native of Marquette and alumnus of Northern Michigan University, was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most successful Taliesin fellows. His Modernist residence, Chemosphere, is a Los Angeles landmark.
  • Mitchell Leisen, film director, was born Menominee, Michigan in 1898. Directed the films Midnight, Easy Living, and other screwball comedies.
  • Former San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions head coach Steve Mariucci and Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo are both natives of Iron Mountain. Both went to Northern Michigan University, where Mariucci was quarterback of the Wildcats' 1975 NCAA Division II national championship team.
  • Terry O'Quinn, actor, was born in Sault Ste. Marie in 1952. O'Quinn most notably played John Locke in the hit TV show, Lost. He also currently plays a recurring role as Joe White in CBS police drama Hawaii Five-0.
  • Chase Osborn was the only Governor of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula (1911–1913).
  • Pam Reed is an ultrarunner who currently resides in Tucson, Arizona. She grew up in Palmer, Michigan, and graduated from Michigan Technological University.
  • Mike Shaw, professional wrestler, was born in Skandia. He wrestled in the WWF as Bastion Booger and in the WCW as Norman the Lunatic.
  • Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks Coffee Co., is a Northern Michigan University alumnus.
  • Glenn T. Seaborg, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist and major contributor in the discovery of several of the transuranium elements, was born in Ishpeming. Before his death in 1999, he was the only living person to have a chemical element named after him (seaborgium, abbreviated as Sg and with atomic number 106). This name caused controversy because Seaborg was still alive, but eventually it was accepted by international chemists. Though he lived most of his life in California, the Seaborg Center at Northern Michigan University is named in his honor.
  • Matthew Songer, founder and CEO of Pioneer Surgical Technology, lives in Marquette.
  • Mary Chase Perry Stratton founder of Pewabic Pottery, was born in Hancock, Michigan.
  • Lou Thesz, professional wrestler who held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship longer than anyone in history, was born in Banat, Michigan, on April 24, 1916.
  • Art Van Damme, jazz accordionist, was born in Norway, Michigan.
  • Hon. John D. Voelker, Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, wrote the best selling book Anatomy of a Murder under the pen name Robert Traver. The film – shot in Big Bay and Ishpeming (with some courtroom scenes in Marquette) — was directed by Otto Preminger.

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