List of people from La Jolla

This is a list of notable people who were born or who lived a significant amount of time in La Jolla, San Diego, California.

Notable residents

Sports

Buzzie Bavasi – Major League Baseball executive, lived in La Jolla from 1968 until death in 2008
Rolf Benirschke – placekicker for San Diego Chargers, graduated from La Jolla High School
Dan Bilzerian – professional poker player, lives in La Jolla
Debbie Bramwell-Washington – IFBB professional bodybuilder
Chase Budinger – NBA player for Minnesota Timberwolves, born in La Jolla
Conor Chinn – professional soccer player for New York Red Bulls, born in La Jolla
Jonathan Compas – former center for Tampa Bay Buccaneers, other NFL teams, and member of the Boston Fitzgibbon family
Gerry Driscoll – championship sailor, businessperson, lived in La Jolla until death in 2011
Dick Enberg – sportscaster for NBC and CBS Sports, resided in La Jolla
Doug Flutie – quarterback for San Diego Chargers and other NFL teams
J. J. Isler – yachtswoman, two-time Olympic medalist and America's Cup competitor, born in La Jolla
Gene Littler – professional golfer, 1961 U.S. Open champion, graduated from La Jolla High School
John Michels – played for Super Bowl XXXI champion Green Bay Packers, born and raised in La Jolla
Rey Mysterio – WWE professional wrestler
Jo Anne Overleese, M.D. (1923–2017) – one of few doctors to have played in All-American Girls Professional Baseball League history, born in La Jolla
Gabrielle Reece – volleyball player, fashion model, and television celebrity, born in La Jolla
Xander Schauffele – professional golfer, 2017 Tour Championship winner, born in La Jolla
Junior Seau – linebacker for San Diego Chargers and other NFL teams, lived in La Jolla
Bob Skinner – Major League Baseball player, coach, manager, scout, born in La Jolla^[1]
Joel Skinner – manager and third base coach of Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians, born in La Jolla
Craig Stadler – professional golfer, graduated from La Jolla High School in 1971
Alexandra Stevenson – professional tennis player and 1999 semi-finalist at Wimbledon, born and raised in La Jolla
Zachary Svajda (* 2002) – professional tennis player, born in La Jolla
Lou Thesz (1916–2002) – professional wrestler
Bradley Zimmer – outfielder for MLB's Cleveland Indians, born in La Jolla

Arts and entertainment

Roger Guy English – Guinness World Record holder

Actors

Francesca Capaldi – actress, The Peanuts Movie
Gary Erwin – TV personality and member of docu-series Addicted to Beauty
Marcia Gay Harden – Oscar-winning and Tony-winning actress
Shane Harper – actor and musician
Charlotte Henry – actress
Izetta Jewel – stage actress, women's rights activist and local radio personality^[2]
James Maslow – actor, songwriter and singer
Danica McKellar – actress
Zoe McLellan – actress
Gregory Peck – Oscar-winning actor
Autumn Reeser – actress (The O.C.), born in La Jolla and lived there until age 17
Cliff Robertson – actor, born in La Jolla, attended La Jolla High School
Shay Rudolph – actress and social media personality
Raquel Welch – actress, attended La Jolla High School
Robin Wright – actress, attended La Jolla High School

Film and television executives

Donald De Line – studio executive and film producer (Pretty Woman) at Walt Disney Productions and its Touchstone Pictures division since 1985, native La Jollan
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein – producer of films and television series including The Maze Runner trilogy, attended La Jolla High School
Gore Verbinski – director of Pirates of the Caribbean, attended La Jolla High School

Writers

Tucker Carlson – political commentator, journalist, writer, television talk show host, raised in La Jolla, attended La Jolla Country Day
Raymond Chandler – noir novelist, moved to La Jolla and uttered the aphorism about La Jolla, "A nice place — for old people and their parents"
Deepak Chopra – spiritual writer, ran his Center for Well Being in La Jolla until recently^[timeframe?]
Peter Economy – author, editor, ghostwriter, and publishing consultant
Debbie Ford – self-help author of best-selling The Dark Side of the Light Chasers (1998)^[3]
Audrey Geisel – Dr. Seuss' widow
Udo Keppler – political cartoonist, publisher, Native American advocate, contributor to Judge and Leslie's Weekly magazines, and son of cartoonist Joseph Keppler
Tony Olmos – screenwriter, filmmaker and musician, resides in La Jolla
Anne Rice – novelist and author of Interview with the Vampire, moved to La Jolla from New Orleans in March 2005^[4]
Alan Russell – best-selling mystery and crime novelist, attended La Jolla High School
Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) – children's author, long-time resident of La Jolla,^[5] namesake of Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego

Music

J. J. Cale – singer-songwriter and guitarist, lived and died in La Jolla
Robbin Crosby – rock musician who played electric guitar for the metal band Ratt, born and attended high school in La Jolla
Warren DeMartini – rock musician who plays electric guitar for the metal band Ratt, attended high school in La Jolla
Michael Franks – musician, singer and recording artist, born in La Jolla
Amelita Galli-Curci – Italian operatic coloratura soprano, lived and died in La Jolla
Sam Hinton – folk singer and marine biologist
Alyssa Jacey – singer-songwriter
Alicia Keys – pianist and singer-songwriter
Andy Skib – guitarist and keyboardist in David Cook's band

Visual and performance art

Armi Kuusela – winner of the first Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1952, lives in La Jolla with her husband, Albert Williams

Crime

Ivan Boesky – financier convicted of insider trading, lives in La Jolla with his second wife, Ana Boesky, and their child^[6]^[7]^[8]
Betty Broderick – convicted of second degree murder, lived in La Jolla, found guilty on December 11, 1991, and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison for the murders of ex-husband Dan Broderick and his second wife, Linda Kolkena
Andrew Cunanan – infamous spree killer of Gianni Versace and three others, graduated from The Bishop's School in 1987

Government and politics

Richard Goodwin Capen Jr. – former United States Ambassador to Spain, chairman of Miami Herald and vice chairman of Knight Ridder, longtime resident of La Jolla^[9]
David Hall – former Governor of Oklahoma, moved to La Jolla following his release from federal prison with his wife, former Oklahoma First Lady Jo Evans Hall;^[10] died 2016
Hyrum Rex Lee – former American Samoa Governor; lived with his wife, First Lady Lillian Lee, in a $5 million high-rise condo in the Shore Towers until their deaths in 2001 and 2010, respectively
John McCain – United States Senator from Arizona, 2008 presidential nominee of the Republican Party, owned a home in La Jolla with his wife, Cindy McCain^[11]
Geoffrey R. Pyatt – United States Ambassador to Ukraine, born in La Jolla in 1963^[12]^[13]
Mitt Romney – former Governor of Massachusetts and the Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election, and his wife, former Massachusetts First Lady Ann Romney, purchased a $12 million vacation home in La Jolla in 2008^[14]

Business and finance

David C. Copley – former owner of The San Diego Union-Tribune and member of the Forbes 400 until his death in 2012
Benjamin Graham – economist and value investor, lived in La Jolla at the end of his life
Trip Hawkins – 64th employee at Apple Computer and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company and Digital Chocolate, graduated from Muirlands Junior High and La Jolla High School
Irwin Mark Jacobs – electrical engineer, co-founder and chairman of the board of Qualcomm
William Lerach – securities lawyer whose cases include Enron
Joseph Tsai – founder of Alibaba Group
Ted Waitt – founder of Gateway, Inc.

Science and technology

Geoffrey Burbidge and Margaret Burbidge – astronomers holding positions at UCSD after many years, reside near La Jolla Shores
Francis Crick – Nobel Prize in medicine winner for his work to identify the essential structure of DNA, long-time resident of La Jolla
Hillman Curtis – web designer^[15]
Lawrence J. Fogel – inventor of active noise cancellation, studied artificial intelligence, long-time resident of La Jolla
Robert Galambos – researcher who discovered how bats use echolocation^[16]
Ronald Lewis Graham – mathematician, lived and died in La Jolla
Clive Granger – 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics winner; long-time resident of La Jolla
Roger Guillemin – winner of the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977 for his work in establishing foundational discoveries in the field of endocrinology; co-founder of the Salk Institute and long-time resident of La Jolla
Augustus Braun Kinzel – metallurgist, president and CEO of Salk Institute, Union Carbide VP, founding President of the National Academy of Engineering, and consultant to the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, lived in La Jolla 1957–1986 (death)
Kary Mullis – Nobel Prize in Chemistry-winning biochemist and surfer from La Jolla, invented the polymerase chain reaction method of DNA analysis
Walter Munk – oceanographer, lived in La Jolla
Leslie Orgel – research chemist, lived in La Jolla 1964–2007
Erving Polster – psychologist and pioneer of Gestalt therapy^[17]
Miriam Polster – psychologist, wife of Erving Polster, advocate of Gestalt therapy^[18]
Jeffrey B. Remmel – mathematician, worked at UC San Diego and died in La Jolla
Sally Ride – astronaut, lived and died in La Jolla
Carl Rogers – psychologist and researcher of psychotherapy
Jonas Salk – virologist and founder of Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla who developed the first successful inactivated polio vaccine
Ellen Browning Scripps – philanthropist, founder of Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Scripps College, member of the Forbes 400
K. Barry Sharpless – Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner, lives in La Jolla
Benjamin Elazari Volcani – microbiologist

References

^ The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. Sterling Publishing. 2007. p. 908. ISBN 978-1-4027-4771-7.
^ Izetta Jewel Papers – Harvard University Archived 2014-04-26 at the Wayback Machine accessed August 30, 2012
^ "Bestselling Self-Help Author and La Jollan Debbie Ford Dies at 57". La Jolla Patch. February 19, 2013. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013.
^ "Anne Rice's rebirth", The San Diego Union-Tribune, November 3, 2005.
^ La Jolla Blue Book Community Directory
^ "Inside the Life of Westchester's Seema Boesky". October 20, 2010.
^ "Miracle Babies Patron Party". October 8, 2015.
^ Marino, Vivian (September 4, 2012). "Stuart J. Boesky" – via NYTimes.com.
^ "Former La Jollan Expected to Be Named Envoy to Spain". Los Angeles Times. April 2, 1992. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
^ Cole-Frowe, Carol (February 7, 2012). "Telling his side". Oklahoma Gazette. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
^ "Mrs. McCain, San Diego County Would Like a Word".
^ Yanukovych accepts credentials from new US ambassador, discusses with him Ukrainian-US relations, Interfax-Ukraine (August 15, 2013)
^ Welcome, Mr. Pyatt!, Den (August 5, 2013)
^ Sabloff, Nick (June 1, 2008). "Mitt Romney's New $12 Million California House". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
^ "Hillman Curtis, a Pioneer in Web Design, Dies at 51". The New York Times. April 20, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
^ Martin, Douglas. "Robert Galambos, Neuroscientist Who Showed How Bats Navigate, Dies at 96", The New York Times, July 15, 2010. Accessed July 16, 2010.
^ Light, Elisabeth Frausto Elisabeth Frausto is a reporter for the La Jolla (October 2, 2020). "Three La Jolla neighbors 90 and older lend their lessons for longevity". La Jolla Light. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
^ Miller, M. V. (2003). "Obituaries: Miriam F. Polster (1924-2001)". American Psychologist. 58 (1): 77 – via APAPsycNet.

[1] The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. Sterling Publishing. 2007. p. 908. ISBN 978-1-4027-4771-7.

[2] Izetta Jewel Papers – Harvard University Archived 2014-04-26 at the Wayback Machine accessed August 30, 2012

[3] "Bestselling Self-Help Author and La Jollan Debbie Ford Dies at 57". La Jolla Patch. February 19, 2013. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013.

[4] "Anne Rice's rebirth", The San Diego Union-Tribune, November 3, 2005.

[5] La Jolla Blue Book Community Directory

[6] "Inside the Life of Westchester's Seema Boesky". October 20, 2010.

[7] "Miracle Babies Patron Party". October 8, 2015.

[8] Marino, Vivian (September 4, 2012). "Stuart J. Boesky" – via NYTimes.com.

[9] "Former La Jollan Expected to Be Named Envoy to Spain". Los Angeles Times. April 2, 1992. Retrieved September 15, 2021.

[okgazette-10] Cole-Frowe, Carol (February 7, 2012). "Telling his side". Oklahoma Gazette. Retrieved September 12, 2015.

[11] "Mrs. McCain, San Diego County Would Like a Word".

[newUBUGPIU15813-12] Yanukovych accepts credentials from new US ambassador, discusses with him Ukrainian-US relations, Interfax-Ukraine (August 15, 2013)

[Den5813Pyatt-13] Welcome, Mr. Pyatt!, Den (August 5, 2013)

[14] Sabloff, Nick (June 1, 2008). "Mitt Romney's New $12 Million California House". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2008.

[nyt12-15] "Hillman Curtis, a Pioneer in Web Design, Dies at 51". The New York Times. April 20, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2013.

[16] Martin, Douglas. "Robert Galambos, Neuroscientist Who Showed How Bats Navigate, Dies at 96", The New York Times, July 15, 2010. Accessed July 16, 2010.

[17] Light, Elisabeth Frausto Elisabeth Frausto is a reporter for the La Jolla (October 2, 2020). "Three La Jolla neighbors 90 and older lend their lessons for longevity". La Jolla Light. Retrieved January 24, 2024.

[18] Miller, M. V. (2003). "Obituaries: Miriam F. Polster (1924-2001)". American Psychologist. 58 (1): 77 – via APAPsycNet.

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