List of people from La Jolla

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 his death in 2008
• Rolf Benirschke - placekicker for the 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 the New York Red Bulls
• Gerry Driscoll - championship sailor and businessperson, lived in La Jolla until his death in 2011
• Rob Deer - Major League Baseball - player (San Diego Padres) and coach. Family has lived in La Jolla since the early 1900s.
• Dick Enberg - sportscaster for NBC and CBS Sports, resided in La Jolla
• Doug Flutie - quarterback for the San Diego Chargers and other NFL teams
• J. J. Isler - yachtswoman, two-time Olympic medalist and America's Cup competitor
• Gene Littler - professional golfer, 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 - World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) professional wrestler
• Bruce Robinson - Major League Baseball catcher, born and raised in La Jolla, graduated from La Jolla High School
• Dave Robinson - outfielder for the San Diego Padres, raised in La Jolla, graduated from La Jolla High School
• 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 semifinalist at Wimbledon, born in La Jolla
• Lou Thesz (1916-2002) - professional wrestler

Arts and entertainment

Actors and actresses

• Gary Erwin - member of the cast of reality show Addicted to Beauty
• 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 - actor
• Robin Wright - actress, attended La Jolla High School
• Autumn Reeser - actress (The O.C.), born in La Jolla and lived there until age 17
• Cliff Robertson - actor
• Raquel Welch - actress

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
• Gore Verbinski - director of Pirates of the Caribbean

Writers

• Carlos Blanco Aguinaga - novelist and literary critic, founded the Spanish section of the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego
• 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
• 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]
• Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel - children's author, long-time resident of La Jolla,^[4] namesake of the Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego
  • Audrey Geisel - Seuss' widow
• Anne Rice - novelist and author of Interview with the Vampire, moved to La Jolla from New Orleans in March 2005^[5]
• Alan Russell - bestselling mystery and crime novelist

Music

• Robin 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, born in La Jolla
• Amelita Galli-Curci - Italian operatic coloratura soprano
• Sam Hinton - folk singer and marine biologist
• Bruce Robinson - singer-songwriter and former Major League Baseball player for the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, graduated from La Jolla High School in 1972
• Andy Skib - guitarist and keyboardist in David Cook's band
• Nathan Williams - lead singer for the pop and punk band Wavves, went to high school in La Jolla

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, lived in La Jolla for several years
• 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

• 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;^[6] 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, owns a home in La Jolla with his wife, Cindy McCain^[7]
• Geoffrey R. Pyatt - United States Ambassador to Ukraine, born in La Jolla in 1963^[8][9]
• Mitt Romney - former Governor of Massachusetts and the Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election, and his wife, former Massachusetts First Lady Ann Romney, have a $12 million vacation home there^[10]

Business and finance

• Warren Buffett - billionaire, lead shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, has a second house in La Jolla
• 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 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
• Daniel Lawrence, founder of clothing retailer Charlotte Russe
• William Lerach - securities lawyer whose cases include Enron
• 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^[11]
• 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^[12]
• Clive Granger - 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics winner; long-time resident of La Jolla
• Kary Mullis - Nobel Prize in Chemistry-winning biochemist and surfer from La Jolla, invented the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method of DNA analysis
• Walter Munk - oceanographer, lives in La Jolla
• Leslie Orgel - research chemist, lived in La Jolla from 1964 to 2007
• Sally Ride - astronaut
• Carl Rogers - psychologist and researcher of psychotherapy
• Jonas Salk - virologist and founder of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies 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

1. The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. Sterling Publishing. 2007. p. 908. ISBN 1-4027-4771-3.
2. Izetta Jewel Papers – Harvard University accessed August 30, 2012
3. "Bestselling Self-Help Author and La Jollan Debbie Ford Dies at 57". La Jolla Patch. February 19, 2013.
4. La Jolla Blue Book Community Directory
5. "Anne Rice's rebirth", San Diego Union-Tribune, November 3, 2005.
6. Cole-Frowe, Carol (2012-02-07). "Telling his side". Oklahoma Gazette. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
7. "Mrs. McCain, San Diego County Would Like a Word".
8. Yanukovych accepts credentials from new US ambassador, discusses with him Ukrainian-US relations, Interfax-Ukraine (15 August 2013)
9. Welcome, Mr. Pyatt!, Den (5 August 2013)
10. Sabloff, Nick (2008-06-11). "Mitt Romney's New $12 Million California House". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
11. "Hillman Curtis, a Pioneer in Web Design, Dies at 51". New York Times. April 20, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
12. Martin, Douglas. "Robert Galambos, Neuroscientist Who Showed How Bats Navigate, Dies at 96", The New York Times, July 15, 2010. Accessed July 16, 2010.