The following is a list of notable alumni of Cranbrook Kingswood School and its predecessors, Cranbrook School for Boys and Kingswood School for Girls.
1930s
William Talman (1932), actor
Florence Knoll (1934), designer; former head of Knoll
Bob Bemer (1936), computer pioneer; co-inventor of ASCII; named COBOL
William Henry Scott (1939), historian
1940s
Natalie Zemon Davis (1945), historian
Barbara Lea (1947), singer
Daniel Ellsberg (1948), leaker of the Pentagon Papers
1950s
Alan K. Simpson (1950), U.S. Senator (R-Wyoming), 1979–1997
Ward Just (1953), author
Ivan Boesky (Class of 1955 but left prior to senior year), arbitrageur; convicted felon; an inspiration for character Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street Pete Dawkins (1955), Heisman Trophy winner, Rhodes Scholar; former Army Brigadier General; former Vice Chairman of Citigroup Private Bank Martha Henry (1955), American-Canadian actress Thomas McGuane (1958), writer, essayist Edmund White III (1958), author Raymond Sokolov (1959), journalist
1960s
Joel E. Cohen (1961), mathematical biologist
Tod Williams (1961), architect
Michael Barone (1962), pundit and political commentator
Rich Gibson (1963), Marxist Professor Emeritus, Author
Charles Bigelow (1963), type designer; former professor of digital typography at Stanford University; co-designer of Lucida family of typefaces Taro Yamasaki (1964), Pulitzer Prize winner for photojournalism Mitt Romney (1965), U.S. Senator from Utah; former governor of Massachusetts; Republican Party nominee for President of the United States in 2012 Mary Fisher (1966), founder of Family AIDS Network; speaker at the 1992 Republican National Convention; daughter of businessman and philanthropist Max Fisher Ann Romney (1967), wife of Mitt Romney (1965) Cynthia Grissom Efird (1967), U.S. ambassador to Angola from 2004 to 2007 Reed Slatkin (1967), co-founder of EarthLink; convicted felon Bing Gordon (1968), Chief Creative Officer, Electronic Arts Michael Kinsley (1968), journalist; commentator; founder of Slate; former editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times Sorayouth Prompoj (1968), diplomat; Thai Ambassador to Germany Sven Birkerts (1969), author
1970s
Kathryn Kolbert (1970), civil rights lawyer; former president of People For the American Way Brad Leithauser (1971), author Henry Tang (1971), former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong Scott McNealy (1972), CEO of Sun Microsystems Kenneth Dart (1972), venture capitalist, investor; co-owner of Dart Container Lisa Frank (1972), founder of Lisa Frank Inc. Dey Young (1973), actress Michael Eric Dyson (Class of 1976 but left after 2 years; did not graduate), author and radio host Dan Dickerson (1976), radio play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers Bill Prady (1977), television writer and producer (The Muppets, Dharma & Greg, The Big Bang Theory) Jennifer Clement (1978), writer and President of PEN International Douglas Sills (1978), actor David Trott (1978), U.S. representative for Michigan's 11th congressional district 2015 - 2019 Amy Denio (1979), musician Bob Woodruff (1979), co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight
1980s
Rob Edwards (1981), television and feature film screenwriter and producer
Robbie Buhl (1982), racecar driver
Tim Westergren (1984), founder of Pandora Radio; included in TIME Magazine’s 2010 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World Eric Fanning (class of 1986, left prior to graduation), 22nd Secretary of the Army Brad Keywell (1987), managing partner and co-founder of Lightbank; co-founder and Director of Groupon, Mediaocean, and Echo Global Logistics Ronald Machen (1987), United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jay Adelson (1988), former CEO of Digg Glenn Kessler (1988), screenwriter and television producer (Damages) Alexi Lalas (1988), professional soccer player; played in the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1994 World Cup; National Soccer Hall of Fame Renée Elise Goldsberry (1989), actress (Hamilton; Ally McBeal) Ari Schwartz (1989), former Senior Director for Cybersecurity on the United States National Security Council Staff at the White House