A sampling of alumni who have made major contributions to society. For a more complete list, please see the Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

• Al de Molina (Rutgers Business School '88) is the chief exective officer of GMAC Financial Services.
• Sol Barer (Graduate School–New Brunswick '70, '74) is CEO and founder of Celgene Corporation in Summit, New Jersey. The company’s anticancer drugs were recently approved by the FDA, and the company also pursues stem cell research.
• Bernard Marcus (School of Pharmacy '54) is cofounder of Home Depot.
• David Stern (Rutgers College '63) has served as commissioner of the National Basketball Association since 1984.

Economics

• Milton Friedman (Rutgers College '32) was a major voice against government intervention in the economy. For his pathbreaking work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 1976.

Health and Medicine

• Selman A. Waksman (Rutgers College '15) was a major contributor to the advancement of modern medicine, isolating 22 antibiotics in his laboratory, including streptomycin, which revolutionized the treatment of tuberculosis. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1952.
• Gary Cohen (Rutgers College '80, Rutgers Business School '83) is executive vice president of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a global medical technology company dedicated to improving health throughout the world. He recently received the B'nai B'rith International Distinguished Humanitarian Award.

Law

• Arthur Ngiraklsong (School of Law–Camden '74) is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Palau.
• Virginia Long (School of Law–Newark '66), Jaynee LaVecchia (Douglass College '76, School of Law–Newark '79), and Barry T. Albin (Rutgers College '73) serve as New Jersey Supreme Court justices.

• Jerry Izenberg (Newark College of Arts and Sciences '52) is a Star-Ledger sportswriter and among the most respected syndicated sports columnists in the nation. He is also the author of nine books.
• Lisa Gersh (School of Law–Newark '83) is cofounder and CEO of Oxygen Media.

• Robert Menendez (School of Law–Newark '79) is a U.S. Senator and former Congressional Representative. He is the first Latino senator and representative from New Jersey.
• Joseph Roberts (Camden College of Arts and Sciences '77) is Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly.

The Arts

• Junot Díaz (Rutgers College '92) has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which is filled with Rutgers references.
• Charles Lotierzo (Camden College of Arts and Sciences '02) served as a character animator for the film Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, which features the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell.
• Roger Bart (Mason Gross '85) is starring as the mad scientist in The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein now on Broadway.
• Janet Evanovich (Douglass College '65) has a new novel, Plum Lucky, the latest in her popular series of crime novels featuring Stephanie Plum.
• Paul Robeson (Rutgers College '19), a brilliant singer and actor, All-American athlete, and well-known advocate for leftist causes, Robeson's career included starring roles in such classic plays as The Emperor Jones, Porgy and Bess, Othello, and Showboat.