James Madison High School (Brooklyn)

James Madison High School is a public high school in Midwood, Brooklyn. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 and is in Region 6 of the New York City Department of Education.

James Madison High School

40°36′36″N 73°56′52″W / 40.61°N 73.9477°W / 40.61; -73.9477

Public high school

1925 (1925)

Jodie Cohen

220.84 (FTE) (2021–22)^[1]

9 to 12

3,497 (2021–22)^[1]

15.83 (2021–22)^[1]

Black and Gold

Knight

Madison Highway

madisonhs.org

Established in 1925, the school has many famous graduates, among them the late United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Judge Judy Sheindlin, two sitting U.S. senators, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN).

In January 2024, the school building was temporarily turned into a shelter for asylum seeking migrant families, and students from the school were temporarily switched over to remote learning.^[2]

William Frauenglass

Clarence Taylor

(1924–1997, class of 1942), Major-League Baseball player.^[4]^[5]

Cal Abrams

(born Maurice Allen Rosenberg; 1932–2010, class of 1949), sportswriter.^[5]

Maury Allen

(1946–2001, class of 1963), attorney, federal judge US Court of Federal Claims

Roger Andewelt

(1922–2020, class of 1940), Nobel Prize winner, physics.^[6]

Arthur Ashkin

(1920–1982, class of 1936), Manhattan Project physicist.^[7]

Julius Ashkin

(1930–2014, class of 1948), Nobel Prize winner, economics.^[8]

Gary Becker

attorney, author, judge, law professor, and former Dean of the Arizona State University College of Law.

Paul Bender

(1918–1970), opera singer.^[9]

Mimi Benzell

(born 1941, class of 1959^[10]), Austrian School economist, anarcho-capitalist theoretician, professor of economics

Walter Block

(1969–2005, class of 1987), former professional NFL football player.^[11]

Harry Boatswain

(born 1957 as Andrew Clay Silverstein), comedian.^[12]

Andrew Dice Clay

(1922–2020, class of 1939), Nobel Prize winner, medicine.^[9]^[13]

Stanley Cohen

(born 1949, class of 1966), former US Senator (Republican of Minnesota).^[14]

Norm Coleman

(Born July 8, 1929, New Jersey State Senator)

Paul Contillo

(born 1934, class of 1952), historian.^[5]

Robert Dallek

(1942–1983, class of 1959), mobster.^[15]

Roy DeMeo

(1915–2003, class of 1935), Major League Baseball player^[4]

Harry Eisenstat

(born 1984), professional football player.^[16]

Devale Ellis

(1931–2009, class of 1949) US Diplomat: known for planning the 1972 Nixon trip to China, US Ambassador to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Alternative US Representative to the United Nations

Harvey Feldman

(1939–2005, class of 1956), President of the American Federation of Teachers.^[5]

Sandra Feldman

(born 1955, class of 1973) US biologist: discovered the two-hybrid system

Stan Fields

(born 1953) political scientist, activist, professor, author.

Norman Finkelstein

(1925–2021), TV personality.^[17]

Sonny Fox

(born 1993, class of 2011) CFL player

Kevin Francis

(born 1958, class of 1976), American basketball commentator and former college basketball coach ^[18]

Fran Fraschilla

(1938–1988, class of 1956), actor.^[19]

Leonard Frey

(1912–2007), born Joseph Fruchtgarten, Jewish Polish-American biochemist and historian of science.

Joseph S. Fruton

(1933–2011; born David Shapiro), comedian.^[20]

David Frye

(born 1940, class of 1957), motion picture executive.^[5]

Sid Ganis

(1922–1992, class of 1939), founding publisher of Mad magazine.^[21]

William Gaines

(1933–2020, class of 1950), Associate Justice, US Supreme Court.^[9]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

(born 1943, class of 1959) – National Academy of Engineering, co-inventor of DSL while at Bell Labs

Richard D. Gitlin

(1929–2021), 2017 Rumelhart prize recipient^[22]

Lila R. Gleitman

(1917-2001, class of 1935), Olympian and broadcaster.^[9]^[23]

Marty Glickman

(born 1953, class of 1971), basketball player.^[24]

Ron Haigler

(1929–2007, class of 1947), comedian.^[17]

Stanley Myron Handleman

(born 1941, class of 1957), Dancer, artist

Deborah Hay

(born 1944, class of 1960), computer scientist, professor

Ellis Horowitz

(1912–1999, class of 1927), writer and director of plays and films.^[9]

Garson Kanin

(1919–2009, class of 1935), test preparation entrepreneur.^[23]

Stanley Kaplan

(1918–2002), songwriter, musician, producer, author and publisher.^[17]

Buddy Kaye

(1922–2019, class of 1939), Japanese scholar, historian, writer, and translator.^[25]

Donald Keene

(born 1942 as Carole Klein, class of 1958), singer and songwriter.^[26]^[27]

Carole King

(1928–2023, class of 1946), U.S. Navy rear admiral.^[5]

Paul L. Krinsky

(1928-2017), Academy Award-winning actor.^[9]^[17]

Martin Landau

(1937–2004), five-time All-Star NBA basketball player.^[23]

Rudy LaRusso

(1927–2016), cartoonist.^[17]

Mell Lazarus

(1920–2012, class of 1940), professional basketball player.^[28]

Andrew Levane

(born 1960), billionaire real estate investor^[29]

David Lichtenstein

(born 1932, class of 1948), opera singer.^[5]

Elaine Malbin

(1917–2012, class of 1933), MLB players union executive director.^[30]

Marvin Miller

(born 1935, class of 1953), radio personality.^[5]

Bruce Morrow

(1930–2011, class of 1947), diplomat.^[5]

Herbert S. Okun

(1927–2014, class of 1942), Nobel Prize winner, physics.^[31]

Martin Lewis Perl

(1913–1991, class of 1930), economist and journalist.^[23]

Sylvia Porter

(born 1936, class of 1954), N.J. Attorney General then Chief Justice, N.J. Supreme Court.^[5]

Deborah Poritz

(born 1982, class of 1999), rabbi, activist, and writer.^[32]

Shais Rishon

(born 1965), comedian and actor.^[33]

Chris Rock

(1913–1995), poet, playwright and novelist.^[9]^[23]

Norman Rosten

(born 1982), professional boxer.^[34]

Dmitry Salita

(1929–2010, class of 1947), Reform Jewish rabbi.

Murray Saltzman

(born 1941, class of 1959), US Senator, (Independent of Vermont) as well as a 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential candidate.^[35]

Bernie Sanders

(born 1935), British politician and brother of Bernie Sanders.^[36]

Larry Sanders

(1913–1997), American football player

Babe Scheuer

(born 1940, class of 1958), US District Judge for the Middle District of Florida

Harvey Schlesinger

(1938–2022), Major League Baseball player.^[4]

Ted Schreiber

(born 1950, class of 1967), U.S. Senate Majority Leader (New York)^[14]

Chuck Schumer

(born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff; 1913–1984, class of 1929), playwright, screenwriter and novelist.^[9]

Irwin Shaw

(born 1942, class of 1960), television personality (Judge Judy).^[5]

Judith Sheindlin

(born 1952, class of 1969), vocalist for Manhattan Transfer and winner of ten Grammys.^[37]

Janis Siegel

(born 1946, class of 1962), IBM Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Caltech.

Barry Simon

(1924–2023, class of 1940), Nobel Prize winner, economics.^[8]^[38]

Robert Solow

(1915–1990, class of 1934), All-American college basketball player for NYU and early professional.^[39]

Irving Terjesen

(1931–2014, class of 1950), professional baseball player.^[4]

Frank Torre

(1932–2019), political scientist.^[40]

Sidney Verba

(1940–2019) filmmaker.^[41]

Stephen Verona

(born 1954, class of 1971) television and film character actor.

David Wohl

(born 1936), Neuberger & Berman Chairman of the Board^[42]

Larry Zicklin

(born 1942, class of 1958), film, television and theater director.^[5]

Joel Zwick

Notable alumni of James Madison High School include:^[3]

James Madison High School (Brooklyn)