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.
- 1,912 famous people
- 135 Detroit places
- 11 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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14 people
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Religion · born 1930Adam MaidaCardinal Archbishop of Detroit (1990–2009)Pennsylvania-born cardinal who led the Archdiocese of Detroit from 1990 to 2009, a period of shrinking city parishes and growing suburbs.
Film & TV · 1931–2015Martin MilneractorStar of the TV classics Route 66 and Adam-12, born in Detroit to a Paramount circuit dancer and a film distributor.
Sports · 1938–2020Wilbert McClureboxer and psychologist1960 Olympic boxing gold medalist, teammate of Cassius Clay, who later earned his doctorate in psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Sports · 1932–2009Arthur Frank McKinlayrowerDetroit-born Olympic silver medalist rower, a 1950 graduate of Cooley High School with his twin brother, who won his medal in the coxless fours at the 1956 Games.
Music · born 1939Charles McPhersonjazz alto saxophonist, composerDetroit-raised alto saxophonist, a student of Barry Harris, who spent much of 1960–1974 with Charles Mingus and played Charlie Parker's music for Clint Eastwood's film Bird.
Religion · 1933–2008Warith Deen MohammedMuslim religious leaderHamtramck-born son of Elijah Muhammad who, after 1975, led most of the Nation of Islam's followers into mainstream Sunni Islam.
Literature · born 1939Thomas McGuanenovelist, short-story writer, screenwriterWyandotte-born novelist of Ninety-Two in the Shade who grew up downriver from Detroit and attended Cranbrook before becoming a chronicler of the American West.
Music · 1938–2017Pete Moorebass singer, songwriter, vocal arranger, producerDetroit-born bass singer and uncredited vocal arranger of the Miracles, co-writer of "The Tracks of My Tears", "Ooo Baby Baby" and "Love Machine".
Press & broadcasting · 1933–1995J. P. McCarthyradio host, interviewerWJR's morning man for more than three decades, whose Focus interviews and easy wit made him the most listened-to voice in Detroit radio until his death in 1995.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 ↗