Delta Kappa Epsilon has over 160 years worth of alumni and connections to take advantage of. Our fraternity has produced the most influential politicians and businessmen of any fraternity. In fact, 6 Dekes have been Presidents of the United States, the most of any fraternity. (The fraternity with the second most has only two.)
Rutherford B. Hayes | Theodore Roosevelt | Franklin D. Roosevelt** | Gerald Ford | George H.W. Bush | George W. Bush |
**FDR, although initiated in Delta Kappa Epsilon, is not officially recognized as being a Deke, because he had dual membership in another society.
Vice Presidents of the United States
Theodore Roosevelt, Alpha
Gerald R. Ford, Omicron
George H. W. Bush, Phi
James Danforth Quayle, Psi Phi
President of the Republic of Cuba
Mario Garcia Menocal, Delta Chi
Secretary of the U.S. Treasury
William E. Simon, Rho
Justices of the Supreme Court
John Hessin Clarke, Beta Chi
Harold H. Burton, Theta
Potter Stewart, Phi
China
Yuan Shikai, Phi (Prime Minister, Chinese Empire)
Liang Tung Yew, Phi (Secretary of State, Chinese Empire)
Chung Mun Yew, Phi (Director of Chinese Railroads)
Japan
Suti Ki Chinda, Psi Phi (Secretary of State)
Baron Seijiro Hara, Psi Omega (President, Japanese Railways)
Postmaster General
Wilson S. Bissell, Phi
George Von L. Meyer, Alpha
Attorney General
Wayne MacVeagh, Phi
William Mitchell, Phi Epsilon
U.S. Senators
(Over 40 Dekes have served in the Senate)
U.S. House of Representatives
(Over 130 Dekes have served in the U.S. House of Representatives, including
3 Speakers of the House)
Recent State Governors
Tony Knowles, Phi, AK
Don Siegelman, Psi, AL
Mike Foster, Zeta Zeta, LA
George Pataki, Phi (Hon), NY
George W. Bush, Phi, Texas
U.S Ambassadors
(Dekes have been ambassadors to 36 foreign countries and the U.N.)
College and University Presidents
Dekes have been presidents of 86 colleges and universities, including:
Amherst, U. of California (Berkeley), U. of Chicago, Colgate University,
Dartmouth College, Depauw University, Louisiana State University, M.I.T.,
Miami University (Ohio), Yale University
Nobel Prize Winners
Theodore Roosevelt, Alpha (Peace Prize, 1905)
John F Enders, Phi (Prize for Medicine, 1954)
Pulitzer Prize Winners
(Not counting Deke proprietors of winning newspapers)
Editorial Writing (2)
Biography (1)
Music (1)
History (2)
Authors
Edward Bellamy, Theta Chi
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theta
Vance Bourjaily, Theta
W. O. Mitchell, Alpha Tau
Corey Ford, Gamma Beta
Owen Wister, Alpha
Financiers
J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr., Alpha
Irving H. Chase, Phi (Chase Manhattan Bank)
Robert Lehman, Phi (Lehman Brothers)
William L. Harkness, Phi
Thomas W Lamont, Alpha
W.W. Crocker, Phi (Crocker National Bank)
Thatcher M. Brown, Phi
August Belmont, Alpha
Payne Whitney, Phi
John Hay Whitney, Phi
Dean Witter, Jr., Phi (Dean Witter & Co.)
Magazine Editors and Publishers
This long list includes:
U.S. News & World Report, Life, Reader’s Digest, Cosmopolitan, Newsweek,
Co-founder of Time, Parent’s Magazine, World Almanac, Harper’s
Newspaper Publishers
This long list includes:
New York Times, Toronto Daily Star, Los Angeles Times, Hearst Newspaper
Chain, Indianapolis Newspapers, Sifton chain of Canadian newspapers
Business Founders, Presidents, Chairmen
(There are literally hundreds of Dekes in this category; this is just some
of the familiar names)
John F. Akers, Phi (I.B.M)
Henry B. Thayer, Pi (A.T.&T.)
Owen D. Young, Sigma Tau (General Electric)
James H. Evans, Iota (Union Pacific Railway)
William W. Wrigley, Phi (Wrigley’s Gum)
Howard Heinz, Phi (Heinz 57 Varieties)
Howard Johnson, Phi (Motor Inns)
James M. Gamble, Lambda (Procter and Gamble)
Sidney M. Colgate, Phi (Colgate-Palmolive)
James C. Colgate, Mu (Colgate-Palmolive)
Gilbert Colgate, Phi (Colgate-Palmolive)
Herbert F Perkins, Phi (International Harvester)
Walter Hoving, Upsilon (Tiffany and Co.)
Alfred S. Bloomingdale, Upsilon (Diner’s Club)
William H. Morton, Pi (American Express Co.)
Edward Bausch, Beta Phi (Bausch & Lomb Opticals)
M. C. D. Borden, Phi (Borden’s Products)
Howard S. Borden, Phi (Borden’s Products)
Harold H. Swift, Delta Delta (Swift and Company)
Joseph C. Wilson, Beta Phi (Xerox)
R. L. Agassiz, Alpha (Calumet & Hecla Mining Corp.)
Joseph Kerr Cass, Lambda (Westvaco)
Adrian R. Fisher, Phi Chi (Johns-Manville)
Willard C. Gulick, Mu (B. F Goodrich)
Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines)
Roger Mitsui, Delta Chi (Mitsui products, Japan)
Louis Bantle, Phi Gamma (U.S. Tobacco)
Cyrus S. Eaton, Jr., Mu (International industrialist)
Frederick N. Schwartz, Gamma Phi (Bristol-Myers Corp.)
Hays Clark, Delta Chi (Avon Products)
Prominent Sporting Figures
Frankie Albert, Sigma Rho (Coach, San Francisco 49ers)
Paul Brown, Kappa (Coach, Cleveland Browns and Owner, Cincinnati Bengals)
Thomas Landry, Omega Chi (Coach, Dallas Cowboys)
Joseph Paterno, Upsilon (Penn State football coach)
Walter Camp, Phi (Football authority, early selector of ‘All American’ players)
William Bartholomay, Delta Epsilon (Owner, Atlanta Braves)
George Steinbrenner, Epsilon (Owner, New York Yankees)
High Culverhouse, Psi (Owner, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Robert Trent Jones, Delta Chi (Famed golf-course designer)
Leland S. Scott, Sigma Rho (Held world’s pole vault record)
Charles Snelling, Alpha Phi (Canadian men’s skating champion)
Bob Pettit, Zeta Zeta (All-American, All-Pro basketball player)
Jay Gould, Gamma Beta (World squash champion)
Donald McNeill, Lambda (U.S. singles tennis champion)
Robert J. Kelleher, Epsilon (President, U.S. Lawn Tennis Association)
James Elder, Alpha Phi (Canadian Equestrian Team 1969 Olympic gold medal
winner)
McNeill Drumwright, Omega Chi (U.S. doubles tennis champion)
Hank Luisetti, Sigma Rho (All-Time All-American basketball player)
Don Schollander, Phi (Won 4 gold medals at the 1964 Olympics)
Jack Torrance, Zeta Zeta (Held world shotput record)
William Miller, Sigma Rho (Held world’s pole vault record)
In The Entertainment World
Cole Porter, Phi (Composer)
Charles E. Ives, Phi (Classical composer)
Dick Clark, Phi Gamma (‘American Bandstand’)
William T. Purdy, Tau (Composer of college songs including :On Wisconsin)
Grant Mitchell, Phi (Actor)
Jonathan Winters, Lambda (Comedian and writer)
Harry Hamlin, Theta Zeta (Actor)
Lloyd Nolan, Sigma Rho (Actor)
Gary Merril, Theta (Actor)
Sonny Tufts, Phi (Actor)
Lowell Thomas, Jr., Pi (Broadcaster and author)
Donald Ogden Stewart, Phi (Won 1931 Oscar for the screenplay of “Laughter”)
Douglas Z. Doty, Gamma Beta (Won 1931 Oscar for the screenplay of “Laughter”)
Other Categories (A random sampling)
Rear Admiral Sidney
W. Souers, Kappa (First director of C.I.A.)
Mark Pitman, Theta (Founded the Choate School)
Henry Sewall, Gamma Phi (Discovered the basic principles of immunization)
Hen. Peyton C. March, Rho (U.S. Chief of Staff in World War I)
George H. Bixby, Phi (One of the founders of Long Beach, California)
Robert A. Peary, Theta (First man to the North Pole, carried a DKE flag
there)
Charles F. Brush, Omicron (Invented the storage battery)
Lt. Gen. Price J. Montague, Alpha Phi (DKE’s highest ranking officer in
World War II)
Charles A. Ellis, Gamma Phi (Designed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge)
Albion W. Small, Xi (Founded the first sociology dept.)
W J. Bland, a Rhodes Scholar at Lambda (First American elected president
of the Oxford Union)
A. Bartlett Giamatti, Phi (First president of Yale to then become U.S. Commissioner
of Baseball)
Melvil Dewey, Sigma (Devised the Dewey Decimal System)
Alan L. Bean, Omega Chi (First Deke to walk on the moon, carried a DKE flag
with him)