- Pennsylvania bishop Henry Ustick Onderdonk (Class of 1805)
- U.S. Congressman Edmund Pendleton (Class of 1805)
- New Jersey Governor Peter Dumont Vroom (Class of 1808)
- Theologian Jackson Kemper (Class of 1809)
- New York bishop Benjamin Onderdonk (Class of 1809)
- Financier William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (Class of 1811)
- Congressman Charles Ferris (Class of 1811)
- Maj. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny (Class of 1812)
- Classical scholar Charles Anthon (Class of 1815)
- Acting Rhode Island Governor William Beach Lawrence (Class of 1818)
- Bibliophile James Lenox (Class of 1818)
- Explorer John Lloyd Stephens (Class of 1822)
- Railroad engineer Horatio Allen (1823)
- United States Secretary of State Hamilton Fish (Class of 1827)
- Journalist John O'Sullivan (journalist) (Class of 1831), coiner of the phrase "Manifest Destiny"
- Lobbyist Samuel Cutler Ward (Class of 1831)
- Literary critic Evert Augustus Duyckinck (Class of 1835)
- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Samuel Blatchford (Class of 1837)
- Diarist George Templeton Strong (Class of 1838)
- Sportsman William R. Travers (Class of 1838)
- Chemist Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (Class of 1841)
- Mayor of New York City Abram S. Hewitt (Class of 1842)
- Financier William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (Class of 1849)
- Military theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan (Class of 1858)
- Columbia College Dean John Howard Van Amringe (Class of 1860)
- Novelist Edgar Fawcett (Class of 1867)
- Diplomat Nicholas Fish (Class of 1867)
- Assistant Secretary of State and Columbia trustees chairman George Lockhart Rives (Class of 1868)
- Historian William Milligan Sloane (Class of 1868)
- Journalist and social reformer William Dudley Foulke (Class of 1869)
- Illinois Central Railroad president Stuyvesant Fish (Class of 1871)
- Dramatic scholar Brander Matthews (Class of 1871)
- Music critic Gustav Kobb&ecaute; (Class of 1877)
- New York City subway chief engineer William Barclay Parsons (Class of 1879)
- U.S. Congressman and Assistant Secretary of War J. Mayhew Wainwright (Class of 1884)
- U.S. Ambassador to Germany James W. Gerard (Class of 1890)
- Mayor of New York City John Purroy Mitchel (Class of 1899)
- New York Times editor and "Topics of the Times" essayist Simeon Strunsky (Class of 1900)
- Playwright George Middleton (Class of 1902), president of the Dramatists Guild of America
- Publisher Alfred Harcourt (Class of 1904), co-founder of Harcourt Brace
- Shoe manufacturer Ward Melville (Class of 1909)
- Governor of North Dakota and U.S. Senator William Langer (Class of 1910)
- Union College president Dixon Ryan Fox (Class of 1911)
- Political scientist Parker Thomas Moon (Class of 1913)
- Congressman Frederic Ren&ecaute; Coudert, Jr. (Class of 1918)
- Western writer James Warner Bellah (Class of 1923)
- Oscar-winning screenwriter Sidney Buchman (Class of 1923)
- Writer Henry Morton Robinson (Class of 1923), author of The Cardinal and co-author of A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake
- Philanthropist Lawrence Wien (Class of 1925)
- Science fiction anthologist Groff Conklin (Class of 1927)
- Oscar-winning screenwriter William Ludwig (Class of 1932)
- City College of New York president Robert Marshak (Class of 1936), president of the American Physical Society
- John La Touche (Class of 1937), lyricist for Cabin in the Sky and The Golden Apple
- Conservative author Ralph de Toledano (Class of 1938)
- Minimalist poet Robert Lax (Class of 1938)
- Spiritual writer Thomas Merton (Class of 1938)
- English professor, and jazz and religion scholar Barry Ulanov (Class of 1939)
- East Asian scholar and Columbia University provost Wm. Theodore de Bary (Class of 1941)
- Oscar-winning screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond (Class of 1941)
- Holocaust author Gerald Green (Class of 1942)
- Economist Robert Lekachman (Class of 1942)
- East Asian scholar Philip Yampolsky (Class of 1942)
- New York Giants quarterback Paul Governali (Class of 1943)
- Grammy-winning record producer Orrin Keepnews (Class of 1943)
- Novelist Walter Wager (Class of 1944)
- Pulitzer Prize-winning gerontologist Robert Neil Butler (Class of 1949)
- Publisher Jason Epstein (Class of 1949)
- Poet John Hollander (Class of 1950)
- Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and translator Richard Howard (Class of 1951)
- Editor Robert Gottlieb (Class of 1952)
- Actor Ben Stein (Class of 1966)
- Novelist and Academy Award-winning film producer Garth Stein (Class of 1987)
- Lesbian writer and poet Carol Guess (Class of 1990)
- MTV personality Gideon Yago (Class of 2000).
| Famous Philo | Class year | How he/she brought glory to the society |
| Edmund Pendleton | 1805 | US Congressman |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Dumont Vroom | 1808 | New Jersey governor |
| Jackson Kemper | 1809 | Theologian |
| Benjamin Onderdonk | 1809 | New York bishop |
| William Backhouse Astor | 1811 | Financier |
| Charles Ferris | 1811 | Congressman |
| Stephen Watts Kearny | 1812 | Maj. Gen. |
| Charles Anthon | 1815 | Classical scholar |
| William Beach Lawrence | 1818 | Acting Rhode Island Governor |
| James Lenox | 1818 | Bibliophile |
| John Lloyd Stephens | 1822 | Explorer |