Politics · born 1947Mitt Romneypolitician, businessmanDetroit-born son of automaker and governor George Romney; grew up in Bloomfield Hills, attended Cranbrook, later governed Massachusetts and ran for president in 2012.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.
- 1,912 famous people
- 135 Detroit places
- 21 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
7 people
Clear filtersPolitics · born 1947Mitt Romneypolitician, businessmanDetroit-born son of automaker and governor George Romney; grew up in Bloomfield Hills, attended Cranbrook, later governed Massachusetts and ran for president in 2012.
Politics · 1907–1995George W. Romneyautomobile executive, governor of MichiganDetroit auto-industry spokesman and American Motors chief who became Michigan's governor (1963–1969) and later U.S. housing secretary.
Music · born 1941Martha Reevessinger, former Detroit City Council memberLead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, who went from Motown secretary to star with “Heat Wave” and “Dancing in the Street”, and later served on the Detroit City Council.
Politics · born 1949Ann Romneyauthor, philanthropist, former First Lady of MassachusettsDetroit-born, Bloomfield Hills-raised Kingswood graduate who married Mitt Romney and became First Lady of Massachusetts and an advocate for multiple sclerosis research.
Religion · 1767–1832Gabriel RichardCatholic priest, educator, territorial delegate to CongressFrench priest of Sainte-Anne's who wrote Detroit's motto after the fire of 1805, co-founded the University of Michigan and printed Michigan's first newspaper.
Politics · 1858–1912William Richertgrocer, council president, acting mayor of DetroitGerman-born grocer and liquor wholesaler who, as council president, served two weeks as acting mayor in 1897 after Hazen Pingree became governor.
Politics · 1882–1952Richard Readingcity clerk, mayor of DetroitLongtime Detroit city clerk and former semi-pro wrestler who was mayor in 1938–1940 and was later imprisoned for taking bribes to protect the numbers rackets.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 ↗