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This is a list of notable Ponceños, people from Ponce, Puerto Rico. Listed here are people who were either born in Ponce or who were not born in Ponce, but who are or were longtime residents of the city – the so-called adopted sons and daughters of Ponce, and known in Spanish as "Ponceñistas". Ponce has also been the birthplace and the place of residence of many Puerto Ricans who became notable elsewhere. The following lists many of them as well. The list is arranged alphabetically by area of notability.
Contents
- List of notable Ponceos by area of notability
- Actors actresses comedians directors and entertainers
- Architects
- Authors playwrights and poets
- Beauty queens and fashion models
- Business people and industrialists
- Civic leaders
- Civil servants and public servants
- Civil rights andor political activists
- Clergy
- Composers
- Musicians
- Contemporary singers
- Opera
- Theatrical arts
- Criminals and outlaws
- Diplomats
- Educators
- Governors
- First Ladies of Puerto Rico
- Historians
- Journalists
- Judges law enforcement and firefighters
- Military
- Physicians scientists and inventors
- Politicians
- Baseball players and coaches
- Basketball players
- Boxers
- Other sportspeople
- Visual artists
- Table summary by year of birth
- References
List of notable Ponceños by area of notability
The list is divided into categories and in some cases sub-categories which best describe the field for which the subject is most noted. For individuals notable in more than one field (such as "Luis A. Ferré" who is notable as a former "governor" and as an "industrialist") the entry is made under the field for which the individual is most noted.
Contents: Top – Actors, actresses, comedians and directors, Architects, Authors, playwrights and poets, Beauty queens and fashion models, Business people and industrialists, Civil rights and/or political activists, Clergy, Composers, contemporary singers, musicians and opera, Criminals and outlaws, Diplomats, Educators, Governors, Historians, Journalists, Judges, law enforcement and firefighters, Military, Physicians, scientists and inventors, Politicians, Sportspeople, Visual Artists.
Actors, actresses, comedians, directors and entertainers
Films: Under Suspicion, and "El último de los amantes" (the Spanish language version of The Last of the Red Hot Lovers).
Founder of New York City's Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre
Films: The Hot Chick, and Suffering Man's Charity, among others.
A Warhol Superstar.
Pioneer in Puerto Rico television. Starred in the movie Lo que le Pasó a Santiago, directed by Jacobo Morales, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Film: American Gangster; TV: Battlestar Galactica
For many years interpreted "Relíquia", mocking political corruption in Puerto Rico.
Film: Una Maid en Manhattan, Porque el amor manda, Santa Diabla; TV: Celia.
Acted in many telenovelas. Hosted "Anda Pa'l Cara" and "Pa' Que Te Lo Goces"
Starred in Puerto Rico's first telenovela, "Ante La Ley".
One of the pioneers of telenovelas in Puerto Rico
Film: Dios los cría, the Spanish language version of ...And God Created Them, among others.
Fictional role in the comedic duet "Susa y Epifanio"
Pioneer film producer. Made the commercially successful films in the island, including Romance Tropical, the first Puerto Rican film with sound.
Starred in the musicals Jesucristo Superstar, Cabaret, Rent and Amor sin barreras (West Side Story).
Architects
A graduate of an American architecture university, he designed masterpieces such as Castillo Serrallés and Casa de España.
Designer of Teatro La Perla
Designed Plaza del Mercado Isabel II
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Winner of the Henry Klumb Award 2012.
Designed the Ponce Cathedral, Banco de Ponce building, and Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño building.
Creator of the Ponce Creole architectural style. Designed the Casa de la Masacre, Font-Ubides House, and the Subira House, among others.
Designed many buildings now in the NRHP including Casa Wiechers-Villaronga, today the Puerto Rico Museum of Architecture.
Authors, playwrights and poets
Co-founder of Claridad. President of the Puerto Rican Communist Party, and recipient of the 1960 Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Puerto Rican Institute of Literature.
Award: Liberatur Prix Award, Frankfurt Book Fair.
His works include "Contornos", "Imagen y visión edénica de Puerto Rico", and "Antología poética".
Documented the experience of Puerto Rican migration to New York. Major writings: The Son of Two Nations: The Private Life of a Columbia Student, among others.
Best known for his "Origenes y desarrollo de la aficcion teatral en Puerto Rico" (Origins and development of theater in Puerto Rico).
Co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Major awards: PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award (2004) and Washington Post Book of the Year Award (2004).
Major Awards: Medal of Honor, ICP; Gold Medal, AP; and Pen Club Award.
Beauty queens and fashion models
Miss Universe 2001
Model, TV host and actress
Business people and industrialists
Ponce Servicios was named after him.
Under his mayoral administration, the Ponce City Hall was built.
First administrator of Cooperativa de Cafeteros de Puerto Rico, Café Rico.
Owner of Ferré-Rangel media emporium.
Madam of a brothel.
Founder of Puerto Rico's oldest law firm in continuous operation, Parra, del Valle & Limeres.
Founder of Rovira Biscuits Corporation.
Founded the Ponce Chamber of Commerce. Was also president of Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, one of the largest and oldest in the Island.
Built the third-oldest residence still standing in Ponce and which became Liceo Ponceño, Puerto Rico's first girls-only school, and later the Ponce Ramada Hotel.
Founder of Destilería Serrallés and "Don Q".
Founder of Industrias Vassallo and subsidiaries.
Civic leaders
Instrumental in the creation of the Parque de la Abolición, the building of road PR-123/PR-10, and the launching of 1883 Ponce Fair
Donated the money for the construction of the Ponce Aqueduct and what would become Hospital Tricoche.
A hero of 1898 "El Polvorín" fire
Civil servants and public servants
Served in several Commonwealth gubernmental positions, some of which were appointed by the President of the United States.
Chardón served twice as Puerto Rico's Secretary of Education
Headed the launching of island-wide public electric service in Puerto Rico
The first Commissioner of Public Instruction after the creation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Displaced English as the language of instruction and replaced it with Spanish.
Civil rights and/or political activists
Nationalist and political prisoner.
Clergy
Self-proclaimed "Jesus Christ Man" Followers in some 35 nations, 287 radio programs; 24-hr TV network; some 2 million followers..
Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Educator at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
Longest-serving bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico, with 36 years of service.
Composers
Wrote many compositions, including the incidental music for both A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, and Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Chavier trained Luis A. Ferré as a concert-level pianist.
Founder of the Ponce Municipal Band. Wrote over 550 compositions before he died on stage at age 39.
Known as "The father of the Puerto Rican danza"
Musicians
Best known for his work with David Bowie, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician.
Best known for "Lejos de Ti".
Director of the ultracentenarian Ponce Municipal Band.
Co-founder of La Sonora Ponceña salsa band
Co-director of the annual Casals Festival since 2010.
First director of the Escuela Libre de Música de Ponce and mastermind behind the creation of Puerto Rico's Free Music School system.
Contemporary singers
With Johnny Albino and Félix ("Ola") Martínez, made up Trío San Juan during the years 1949–1957. Among his best tunes was the 1956 bolero "Siete notas de amor".
Singer for "Joe Cuba Sextet" Fania All-Stars
Won numerous awards internationally during her lifetime. Was also elected to the Puerto Rico Senate
Credited with starting the salsa movement in 1975.
Director of the TV show "Objetivo Fama"
Has recorded over 50 albums, DVDs, and compilations
Recipient of the 1966 "Most Popular Latin Singer of the Year" award at the Palladium Ballroom.
Fania All-Stars personality
Multiple-time Grammy and Latin Grammy winning musician, singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet and entrepreneur.
The woman with a thousand voices and a thousand faces.
Winner of the fourth season of Objetivo Fama.
Opera
Trained 19th century international soprano singer Amalia Paoli.
First person in world history to record an entire opera
Recipient of UNESCO's Soprano of the Year award.
First Puerto Rican to sing a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera.
Theatrical arts
Criminals and outlaws
Outlaw.
Diplomats
Former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela and head of Alliance for Progress
Educators
Established the first laboratory of child psychology at the University of Havana
Founder of the Carlos Albizu Miranda University.
Author of "Panorama de la Cultura Puertorriqueña", among others.
Founded the Colegio Central Ponceño in 1883.
Author of "Libro de Poemas en Ingles y Espanol", among others.
President of the University of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico National Olympic team coach
Author of award-winning "El Centauro, Persona y Pensamiento de Ortega y Gasset." (Institute of Puerto Rican Culture)
Taught music for a meager $50 per month to an entire generation of Puerto Rican children.
Governors
Also an industrialist and philanthropist. Founder of the Museo de Arte de Ponce and Ponce Cement, Inc.
Two-time governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and its youngest governor ever.
Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
First Ladies of Puerto Rico
First Lady of Puerto Rico (1965–1966).
First Lady of Puerto Rico (1970–1972).
Youngest First Lady of Puerto Rico (1973–77, 1985–92).
First Lady of Puerto Rico (1969–1970).
Historians
Founding member of the Puerto Rican Association of Historians, and director of the Center for Communications Research at the University of Puerto Rico.
Wrote "Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce y Otras Noticias Relativas a su Desarrollo Urbano, Demográfico y Cultural (Siglos XVI-XIX)".
Wrote the classical work: "Las fiestas populares de Ponce."
Author of "De Rosas a Trujillo: estudio histórico comparativo de las tiranías en América." Long-time chief archivist at Ponce Historical Archives
Author of "History of Ponce."
The "undisputed authority" on the subject of Puerto Rico's sugar industry.
Head archivist and longest-serving archivist at the Ponce Historical Archives
Journalists
Columnist for the New York Daily News, and co-host the radio and television program Democracy Now!.
Emmy-award winning New York City television news anchor.
Judges, law enforcement and firefighters
Puerto Rico district judge and a First Lady of Puerto Rico (1967–1969).
Main negotiator during the 1987 Atlanta Prison Riots.
The first and longest-serving Fire Commissioner in Puerto Rico.
Military
Supreme Cacique of Puerto Rico who welcomed Juan Ponce de León to the island.
Led the Taínos in the fight against Juan Ponce de León and the Spanish conquistadores in the "Taíno rebellion of 1511."
First and only Latino among the first six airmen to be awarded the Air Force Combat Action Medal.
First Latino to serve as commander, Air Force Security Assistance Center, Air Force Materiel Command.
Co-founder of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard.
First Puerto Rican and second Hispanic to become admiral (four-star) in the U.S. Navy. Commander of the American fleet that effected the blockade of the Soviet ships during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Tay Ninh Province in the Republic of Vietnam on 8 November 1966.
First Puerto Rican to be elected mayor in Texas. Mayor of Killeen, Texas.
Chief of Staff of the United States Army Reserve.
Physicians, scientists and inventors
Father of Puerto Rican mycology and first Puerto Rican appointed as Chancellor of University of Puerto Rico.
Was also president of the Autonomist Party of Puerto Rico.
Introduced the first EKG and X-ray machines to Puerto Rico. Considered to be "one of the giants of Puerto Rican medicine".
Lead physician at the Ponce Massacre, and witness at the trials of the accused Nacionalistas. Was Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico. Co-founder of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico.
First Puerto Rican to be appointed Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Co-founder of New York City's French Hospital.
One of the first physicians in the United States and Puerto Rico to use the Prosorba column to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Pioneered heart surgeries in Puerto Rico
First physician with a medical degree in the city and medical director at both Hospital de Damas and Hospital Tricoche.
Politicians
President and principal leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
"The Father of Puerto Rico's Autonomy".
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
The first Resident Commissioner to the United States.
Mayor of Ponce. Member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. Also an engineer and civil servant.
Former Mayor of Miami, Florida.
Founder of the 1915 pro-statehood Puerto Rico Socialist Party, labor activist and former Resident Commissioner to the United States.
Former Speaker of Puerto Rico's House of Representatives.
President of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
Member of the New York State Assembly.
Speaker of the Senate of Puerto Rico. Also basketball player in BSN.
Baseball players and coaches
former baseball player, MLB All-Star, third Puerto Rican inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame (2011).
Former 20-season catcher in Major League Baseball.
baseball player.
baseball player, member of Baseball Hall of Fame.
Negro League Baseball All-Star player.
Former Major League Baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.
MLB player with San Francisco Giants, Montreal Expos and the St. Louis Cardinals.
9-year veteran in MLB playing as an outfielder.
Former catcher in Major League Baseball with the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox.
MLB baseball manager.
first Puerto Rican baseball player to throw a "no-hitter" in Puerto Rican baseball.
MLB player with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.
first Puerto Rican to play in Negro Leagues and the last surviving member of such League.
Former Major League Baseball player for the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and the Minnesota Twins.
Former Florida Marlins team manager.
MLB player with Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati Redlegs and Philadelphia Phillies.
former MLB pitcher.
MLB player with New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, and Cleveland Indians.
Basketball player with Leones de Ponce. Also a politician.
Basketball players
basketball player, led the Ponce Lions team to six championships.
Olympic basketball player.
former Puerto Rico Basketball league player. Also managed Puerto Rico National team to medals at multiple international games.
Puerto Rico basketball league and Puerto Rico Olympic basketball team player.
Puerto Rico professional basketball league player and National Olympic team medalist.
Boxers
WBA light heavyweight champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee.
three-time world boxing champion.
Light flyweight boxer and WBO's world Strawweight championship.
Current World Boxing Council Caribbean Featherweight Champion.
Other sportspeople
Olympic medalist specializing in the 400-metre hurdles.
Gold medalist at Central American and Caribbean Games
Olympic sprinter.
The father of Olympic sports in Puerto Rico.
Current president, Puerto Rico Swimming Federation and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Lucha Underground.
Visual artists
Her works include album covers for Stan Getz
Dean of the Painting Department at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
His works include "Flamboyan" (1972).
Patrons include Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art and Puerto Rico Museum of Art.
Patrons include Ponce YMCA Organization, Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño.
Co-founder of the School of Plastic Arts of Puerto Rico.
Patrons include El Museo del Barrio, Whitney Museum of Art, Museum of the City of New York and the Groninger Museum
Exposer of the costumbrismo movement.
Table summary by year of birth
The following sortable table is a summary list of notable Ponceños and Ponceñistas arranged chronologically by year of birth.
References
List of people from Ponce, Puerto Rico Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA