Sports · 1911–1986Hank Greenbergbaseball first baseman, team executiveHall of Fame slugger and two-time American League MVP who spent twelve of his thirteen major league seasons with the Tigers and led Detroit to two World Series titles.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.
- 1,940 famous people
- 366 Detroit places
- 8 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
5 people
Clear filtersSports · 1911–1986Hank Greenbergbaseball first baseman, team executiveHall of Fame slugger and two-time American League MVP who spent twelve of his thirteen major league seasons with the Tigers and led Detroit to two World Series titles.
Politics · 1912–2003Martha Griffithslawyer, judge, politicianDetroit lawyer, first woman judge of the city's Recorder's Court and 20-year congresswoman who forced sex discrimination into the Civil Rights Act and pushed the ERA through the House.
Music · 1911–1991Slim Gaillardjazz singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalistJive singer of “Flat Foot Floogie” and inventor of the “Vout” language, often listed as Detroit-born, who spent his teenage years scraping a living in Detroit.
Notorious figures · 1919–2001Anthony GiacaloneDetroit Mafia capo and street bossEast Side-born mobster known as Tony Jack, a Detroit Partnership leader whom Jimmy Hoffa expected to meet on the day he vanished in 1975.
Press & broadcasting · 1917–1977Lou Gordontelevision interviewer, columnist, political reporterCombative Detroit TV interviewer whose Lou Gordon Program on WKBD (1966–1977) drew George Romney's 1967 'brainwashing' remark that sank his presidential hopes.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 ↗