Rotarians come from all walks of life and many are famous. We're blessed to be surrounded by excellence.
(Of note, Orville Wright, co-inventor of the first successful airplane was a Rotarian. As was Charles Lindberg, who took flying a step further. Followed by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman and Gordon Cooper.)
BUSINESS LEADERS
Max Cointreau – Rotary Club of Paris, France – Owner, Cointreau liquor enterprise
Raymond F. Firestone – Rotary Club of Akron, OH – Chairman and CEO, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.
Joyce C. Hall – Rotary Club of Kansas City, MO – Founder of Hallmark Cards
Reijiro Hattori – Rotary Club of Tokyo Ginza, Japan – chairman, Seiko
Konosuke Matsushita – Rotary Club of Osaka, Japan – President, Matsushita Electric Co.
Charles H. Mayo – Rotary Club of Rochester, MN – Co-founder of Mayo Clinic
Toyohiko Mikimoto – Rotary Club of Tokyo, Japan – Mikimoto Pearl Co.
Heinrich Nordhoff – Rotary Club of Braunschweig, Germany – President, Volkswagen
C. Penney – Rotary Club of New York, NY – Founder of J.C. Penney stores
Sir Kenneth Fung Ping-Fan – Rotary Club of Hong Kong – Bank of East Asia, Ltd., Hong Kong; past RI Director
Leopoldo Pirelli – Rotary Club of Milano – President, Pirelli Tire Co. Italy
The ‘Colonel’ Harland Sanders – Rotary Club of Jeffersonville, ID – Founder, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
Kiyoshi Seike – Rotary Club of Tokyo-Meguro – Japanese architect
Kiyoshi Togasaki – Rotary Club of Tokyo – President and Chairman, Japan Times; past RI President
Claude Vuitton – Rotary Club of Paris-Nord, France – Owner, Vuitton luggage enterprise
Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. – Rotary Club of Chicago, IL – Chairman of the board of the Walgreen Drug Company
Sam Walton – Rotary Club of Bentonville, AK – Founder of Wal-Mart
INVENTORS
Thomas A. Edison – Rotary Club of Orange, NJ – Inventor
Guglielmo Marconi – Rotary Club of Bologna, Italy – Inventor of the wireless telegraphy, 1909 Nobel Prize recipient for physics
Orville Wright – Rotary Club of Dayton, OH – Co-inventor of the first successful airplane
EXPLORERS
Roald Amundsen – Rotary Club of Oslo, Norway – First person to reach the South Pole in 1911
Neil Armstrong – Rotary Club of Wapakoneta, OH – Astronaut & first man to walk on the moon
Frank Borman – Rotary Club of Space Center, Houston, TX – U.S. astronaut
Richard E. Byrd – Rotary Club of Winchester, VA – Arctic explorer
Gordon Cooper – Rotary Club of Space Center, Houston, TX – U.S. astronaut
Sir Edmund Hillary – Rotary Club of Auckland – New Zealand explorer, philanthropist and 1st person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest
Charles Lindberg – Rotary Club of Edinburgh – American aviator
ROYALTY
Prince Axel – Rotary Club of Copenhagen, Denmark – Prince of Denmark
Prince Bernhard – Rotary Club of Amsterdam, Netherlands – Prince of the Netherlands
HRH King Charles III – Rotary Club of Banchory-Ternan – King of England
HRH Prince Phillip – Rotary Club of Edinburgh – Prince of England
Prince Rainier III – Rotary Club of Monaco – Prince of Monaco
Greve Af Rosenborg Flemming – Rotary Club of Copenhagen – Danish Count
Tsuneyoshi Takeda – Rotary Club of Tokyo-North – Japanese Royal Prince
LEADERS
Asgeir Asgeirsson – Rotary Club of Reykjavík, Iceland – President, Iceland
Eduard Benes – Rotary Club of Prague, Czechoslovakia – President, Czechoslovakia
Alcino Cardoso – Rotary Club of Porto-Douro – Secretary of State, Portugal
Sir Winston Churchill – Rotary Club of London – Prime Minister, England & Leader of UK during WWII
Michel Debré – Rotary Club of Amboise – Foreign Minister and Minister of Finance, France
Jorge Fidel Duron – Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa; past RI vice president – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honduras
Diane Feinstein – Rotary Club of San Francisco, CA – U.S. Senator
Gerald R. Ford – Rotary Club of Grand Rapids, MI – President, USA
William Fulbright – Rotary Club of Fayetteville, AR – U.S. Senator from Arkansas
Hans-Dietrich Genscher – Rotary Club of Bonn Süd-Bad Godesberg – Foreign Minister, Germany
Zbigniew Gertych – Rotary Club of London, England – Polish Ambassador to GreatBritain
Lorenzo Guerrero Gutierrez – Rotary Club of Granada – President, Nicaragua
Warren G. Harding – Rotary Club of Washington, DC – President, USA
Steingrimur Hermannsson – Rotary Club of Reykjavík – Prime Minister, Iceland
Sydney G. Holland – Rotary Club of Christchurch – Prime Minister, New Zealand
John F. Kennedy – Rotary Club of Hyannis, MA – President, USA
Abdulla Khalil – Rotary Club of Khartoum – Prime Minister, Sudan
Chung Yul Kim – Rotary Club of Hanyang – Prime Minister, Korea
Karl Kobelt – Rotary Club of St. Gallen – President, Swiss Confederation
Chucri Kouatly – Rotary Club of Damascus – President, Syria
Jan Masaryk – Rotary Club of Prague – Foreign Minister, Czechoslovakia
Cesare Merzagora – Rotary Club of Milano – President of the Senate, Italy
Leonard Mulama – Rotary Club of Kisangani – Prime Minister, DemocraticRepublic of the Congo
Duck Wo Nam – Rotary Club of Hanyang – Prime Minister, Korea
Choong Hoon Park – Rotary Club of Hanyang – Prime Minister, Korea
Raul Sapena Pastor – Rotary Club of Asunción – Prime Minister, Paraguay; past RI District Governor
Konstantin Päts – Rotary Club of Tallinn – President, Estonia
Antoine Pinet – Rotary Club of Saint-Etienne – Prime Minister, France
General Augusto Pinochet – Rotary Club of Santiago, Chile – General and Leader
Emilio Pucci – Rotary Club of Florence, Italy – Italian couturier and politician
Nereu Ramos – Rotary Club of Florianópolis – President, Brasil
Bhichai Rattakul – Rotary Club of Dhonburi – Foreign Minister, Thailand; RI president
Carlos P. Romulo – Rotary Club of Manila – Philippine Brigadier General in WWII,
Ambassador of the Philippines to the US, President of the 4th session of the United Nations 1949
Franklin D. Roosevelt – Rotary Club of Albany, NY – President, USA
General Carlos Romulo – Rotary Club of Manila – President, Philippines; past RI Vice President
Wolfgang Schallenberg – Rotary Club of Wien – Austrian Ambassador to France
Walter Scheel – Rotary Club of Bonn am Rhein – President, Germany
Adlai E. Stevenson – Rotary Club of Springfield, IL – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Governor of Illinois
Woodrow Wilson – Rotary Club of Birmingham, AL – President, USA & Nobel Prize laureate in peace
Chia-kan “C. K.” Yen – Rotary Club of Taipei, Taiwan – President, Republic of China-Taiwan
Chang Soon Yoo – Rotary Club of Hanyang, South Korea – Prime Minister
JUSTICES
Harry A. Blackmun – Rotary Club of Rochester, MN – U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Marcelo B. Fernan – Rotary Club of Cebu West – Chief Justice, Supreme Court,
Philippines
Earl Warren – Rotary Club of Sacramento, CA – Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Byron R. White – Rotary Club of Denver, CO – U.S. Supreme Court Justice
ARTISTS, COMPOSERS, AND AUTHORS
Jose Belloni – Rotary Club of Montevideo – Sculptor, Uruguay
John Briggs – Rotary Club of Bingley, England – British concert pianist
Josep MaVayreda Canadell – Rotary Club of Gerona – Spanish painter
Roger Chapelain-Midy – Rotary Club of Paris – French painter
Cecil B. De Mille – Rotary Club of Hollywood, CA – motion picture director
Maurice Denuzière – Rotary Club of Vitry-Sud-Est de Paris – French writer Louisiana
Walt Disney – Rotary Club of Palm Springs, CA – Animation filmmaker
Edgar A. Guest – Rotary Club of Detroit, MI – American journalist and poet
Franz Lehar – Rotary Club of Vienna – Austrian composer
Thomas Mann – Rotary Club of Munich – German novelist, 1929 Nobel Prize recipient for literature
Robert Manuel – Rotary Club of Paris, France – Director, Marigny Theatre, Paris
Norman Vincent Peale – Rotary Club of New York, NY – American author and minister
Joan Abello Prat – Rotary Club of Barcelona Condal – Spanish painter
James Whitcomb Riley – Rotary Club of Indianapolis, ID – American poet
Sigmund Romberg – Rotary Club of New York, NY – American composer
Jean Sibelius – Rotary Club of Helsinki- Helsingfors, Finland – Composer
Jack Williamson – Rotary Club of Portales, N.M. – American science fiction author
Philip Wylie – Rotary Club of Middletown, CO – American author and social commentator
Willy Zumblick – Rotary Club of Tubarão – Brazilian painter
OTHER FAMOUS ROTARIANS
Holly Compton – Rotary Club of St. Louis, MO – 1927 Nobel Prize recipient for physics
Pope Francis – Rotary Club of Buenos Aires – Pope
Ko Hirasawa – Rotary Club of Kyoto East, Japan – Japanese anatomist and president of Kyoto University
Duke Kahanamoku – Rotary Club of Honolulu, HI – Olympic gold medalist, “Father of Surfing”
Tapio Korjus – Rotary Club of Lapua Kiviristi, Finland – 1988 Olympic Gold Medal winner javelin
Hans Küng – Rotary Club of Reutlingen-Tübingen, Germany – Theologian
Jean Leclant – Rotary Club of Paris – French Egyptologist
Connie Mack – Rotary Club of Fort Myers, FL – Baseball Hall of Fame manager and team owner
Georges Octors – Rotary Club of Brussels – Belgian orchestra conductor
Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao – Rotary Club of Manila, Philippines – World champion professional boxer & politician
Luciano Pavarotti – Rotary Club of Modena – Italian opera singer
Donna Shalala – Rotary Club of Madison, WI – Secretary of Health and Human Services, USA
Kenjiro Shoda – Rotary Club of Osaka – President, Osaka University, Japan
Tris Speaker – Rotary Club of Cleveland, OH – Baseball Hall of Fame player
Sir Sigmund Sternberg – Rotary Club of London – Director, Sternberg Centre for Judaism, England
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