Sports · born 1962
Chris Cheliosice hockey defensemanHall of Fame defenseman who joined the Red Wings in 1999, won Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008 and played in Detroit into his late forties.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
434 people · 2/10 page
Clear filtersSports · born 1962Chris Cheliosice hockey defensemanHall of Fame defenseman who joined the Red Wings in 1999, won Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008 and played in Detroit into his late forties.
Literature · 1858–1939Charles Eastmanphysician, writer, reformerSantee Dakota physician and author, one of the best-known Native American writers of his time, who spent his last winters in Detroit, died here in 1939 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Music · 1948–2020
Ivan Králguitarist, bassist, songwriter, producer, filmmakerPrague-born guitarist of the Patti Smith Group and Iggy Pop, co-writer of “Dancing Barefoot,” who spent his final years recording in Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Politics · 1890–1949Frank Murphymayor of Detroit, governor, U.S. Supreme Court justiceRecorder's Court judge and Depression-era mayor of Detroit (1930–1933) who went on to govern Michigan and sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.Edwin Starrsinger, songwriterSoul singer who launched his career on Detroit's Ric-Tic label with "Agent Double-O-Soul" and then sang Norman Whitfield's protest anthem "War" for Motown.
Architecture & design · 1925–2017
Gunnar BirkertsarchitectLatvian-American modernist who worked for Saarinen and Yamasaki and ran his own firm from Birmingham, Michigan, for four decades.
Sports · born 1983
Miguel Cabrerabaseball player, first baseman, third baseman, designated hitterVenezuelan-born slugger who spent sixteen seasons with the Tigers, won the 2012 Triple Crown, two American League MVP awards, and remains one of only three players with 3,000 hits, 500 home runs and a .300 career average.Derrick Colemanbasketball player, entrepreneurSyracuse star raised in Detroit who returned late in his career to play for the Pistons, then came home for good as a local developer and Flint water crisis volunteer.Ed Gordonathletics competitor, later science teacher1932 Olympic long jump gold medalist who settled in Detroit later in life, earned a delayed college degree at Wayne State University, and taught science there until his death.James Jamersonbassist (Funk Brothers session musician)Motown's great uncredited bassist, a Funk Brother who played on nearly every Hitsville hit of the 1960s and is buried in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery.
Religion · born 1877Wallace Fard Muhammadfounder of the Nation of IslamMysterious peddler-preacher who founded the Nation of Islam in Detroit in 1930 among Black migrants from the South, then vanished in 1934.
Music · 1941–1991David RuffinsingerThe raspy lead voice of the Temptations' “My Girl,” who helped build Hitsville U.S.A. as a teenager and is buried at Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery.
Sports · 1924–2016Norbert SchemanskyweightlifterDetroit-born weightlifter, the first to win four Olympic medals in the sport, who lived most of his life in nearby Dearborn, where a park is named for him.
Edmund SzokaCatholic cardinal, Archbishop of Detroit, Vatican administratorArchbishop of Detroit in the 1980s who hosted Pope John Paul II in 1987, then became the Vatican's top financial officer and governor of Vatican City.
Music · 1931–2010Shirley Verrettopera singer (mezzo-soprano and soprano), voice teacherCelebrated Verdi and Donizetti star who spent her final 14 years teaching voice at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she died in 2010.Lilian Jackson Braunmystery novelist, newspaper editorCreator of The Cat Who… mysteries, who spent 30 years as the Detroit Free Press's Good Living editor and modeled her newspaperman hero on the Detroit press world.
Sports · 1892–1969Walter Hagenprofessional golferFlamboyant winner of eleven major championships, "the father of professional golf", who became the first head professional at Oakland Hills and made Michigan his home.
Music · 1939–1992Eddie Kendrickssinger, songwriterFalsetto lead of the Temptations who came to Detroit with the Primes, sang "Just My Imagination" and later topped the charts solo with "Keep On Truckin'."
Sports · 1925–2019
Ted Lindsayice hockey player, left wing, general managerFierce Red Wings left wing of the 'Production Line' who won four Stanley Cups with Detroit, led the first serious attempt to unionize NHL players, and stayed part of the club for the rest of his life.Ronald Inglehartpolitical scientistFounding president of the World Values Survey and theorist of 'post-materialist' values, who taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1966 until his death in 2021.Fredy Perlmanauthor, translator, publisherCzech-born anarchist writer and publisher whose Black & Red press made Detroit a center of radical publishing; author of Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!
Film & TV · born 1976
Haaz SleimanactorLebanese actor of The Visitor and Killing Jesus who, after immigrating at 21, lived in metro Detroit and earned a computer science degree at Wayne State University.
Music · born 1970Brendan Bensonsinger-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producerPower-pop songwriter born in Royal Oak whose Detroit attic was where he and Jack White wrote the first song of the Raconteurs in 2005.
Press & broadcasting · born 1976
Nargiz Birk-Petersenlawyer, television presenter, modelAzerbaijani-American lawyer who co-hosted the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, after studying in Michigan and earning her law degree at Wayne State.
Auto industry · 1868–1920Horace Dodgemachinist, automobile manufacturer, co-founder of Dodge BrothersThe engineering half of the Dodge Brothers, who supplied Ford's first engines, built Dodge Main in Hamtramck and helped create Orchestra Hall.
Auto industry · 1843–1932Henry M. Lelandmachinist, engineer, automakerPrecision machinist who founded both Cadillac and Lincoln in Detroit, pushed through the electric self-starter, and was a leading voice of Progressive-era reform in the city.
Science & invention · 1922–2012Stanford R. Ovshinskyinventor, physicist, entrepreneurSelf-taught inventor of the nickel-metal hydride battery and thin-film solar panels, who built his company Energy Conversion Devices in Detroit and Troy over half a century.
Music · 1936–2014Jimmy Ruffinsoul singerMotown singer of “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”, older brother of Temptations lead David Ruffin, who built his career at Hitsville in Detroit.
Auto industry · 1890–1961Charles Erwin Wilsonautomotive executive, U.S. secretary of defenseGeneral Motors president who ran the company from Detroit through World War II, became Eisenhower's defense secretary, and is buried in suburban Beverly Hills, Michigan.
Politics · 1836–1907Russell A. Algerlumber baron, Union general, governor of Michigan, secretary of warCivil War cavalry commander and Detroit-based lumber baron who became Michigan governor and secretary of war; his memorial fountain stands in Grand Circus Park.Chuck BehlerdrummerLivonia-born drummer who played on Megadeth's So Far, So Good... So What! and later returned to the Detroit area, where he plays with Motor City Freaks.
Politics · 1813–1879Zachariah Chandlermerchant, mayor of Detroit, U.S. senatorDetroit merchant and abolitionist who backed the Underground Railroad, served as mayor in 1851 and became Michigan's Radical Republican boss in the U.S. Senate.John DeardenCatholic cardinal, Archbishop of DetroitArchbishop of Detroit for 21 years who brought the Second Vatican Council's reforms home and pressed the church to confront racial injustice.
Architecture & design · 1893–1969Harley Earlautomotive designer, GM's first head of designHollywood coachbuilder whom GM brought to Detroit in 1927 to create the industry's first styling studio; he gave America the tailfin and the Corvette.
Politics · 1912–2003Martha Griffithslawyer, judge, politicianDetroit lawyer, first woman judge of the city's Recorder's Court and 20-year congresswoman who forced sex discrimination into the Civil Rights Act and pushed the ERA through the House.
Science & invention · 1846–1933William Henry Holmesanthropologist, archaeologist, artistSmithsonian anthropologist, survey artist of the American West and director of the national art gallery, who spent his last year with his son in Royal Oak.
Auto industry · born 1932
Bob Lutzautomotive executive at Ford, Chrysler and GMSwiss-born 'car guy' who held top jobs at all three Detroit automakers, from the Dodge Viper at Chrysler to GM's product revival.
Music · 1886–1979
Paul Parayconductor, composer, organistFrench conductor who rebuilt the Detroit Symphony after its 1949 collapse and made its celebrated Mercury Living Presence recordings between 1951 and 1962.
Comedy · 1926–2009Soupy Salescomedian, television hostPie-throwing comic whose Lunch with Soupy Sales on Detroit's WXYZ-TV (1953–1960) made him a local legend before he went national.
Sports · 1944–2012Emanuel Stewardboxing trainer, commentator, former boxerThe 'godfather of Detroit boxing', who built the Kronk Gym into a world-famous training ground and coached forty-one world champions, among them Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.
Film & TV · born 1970Larry Joe Campbellactor, comedianAccording to Jim's Andy, a northern Michigan native who earned a theater master's at Wayne State, performed at The Second City Detroit and co-founded the Detroit Creativity Project.
Auto industry · 1864–1920John Dodgemachinist, automobile manufacturer, co-founder of Dodge BrothersThe business mind of the Dodge Brothers, who turned a Detroit machine shop into one of America's biggest automakers.
Sports · born 1984
Jonas Gustavssonice hockey goaltenderSwedish backup goaltender nicknamed "the Monster" who spent three seasons with the Red Wings and briefly caught fire during the 2012–13 season, and settled with his family in the Detroit area.
Alice Herzpeace activist, teacherGerman-born pacifist and Wayne State German instructor who in March 1965, aged 82, became the first American known to set herself on fire in protest against the Vietnam War.
Religion · 1882–1958Edward Mooneyfirst Archbishop of Detroit, cardinalFirst Archbishop of Detroit (1937–1958) and a cardinal from 1946, who reined in radio priest Charles Coughlin and led the church through the city's wartime boom.
Sports · 1989–2020
Chris Reedice dancerAmerican-born ice dancer who skated for Japan at three Olympics, trained in Canton in metro Detroit from 2015 and died in Detroit in 2020, aged 30.
Literature · 1941–2024John Sinclairpoet, activist, music manager, radio hostJazz poet, MC5 manager and White Panther co-founder who helped build Detroit's 1960s Cass Corridor counterculture and died in the city in 2024.Alexander H. SmithmycologistLeading American mushroom expert who spent his entire career at the University of Michigan Herbarium and wrote popular guides to Michigan's mushrooms.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗
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