Prominent mensans

As this list suggests, Mensa is a remarkably diverse organization.  While some 
of the Mensans noted here are well known, many others lead interesting lives out 
of the public eye.

DONALD PETERSEN:  Former chairman of Ford Motor Company.  Has B.S. degree in 
mechanical engineering and an MBA from Stanford University.  He graduated Phi 
Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi (honorary engineering society) and Sixma Xi Scientific 
Research Society (natural sciences).  During his career at Ford, he was involved 
in the development of two of Ford's most successful cars--the Mustang and the 
Maverick--as well as the Mark III and the Fairlane.  He is also a high-
performance driver, having trained at the school run by retired racing champion 
Bob Bondurant.  Petersen was born on a farm in the Midwest and raised during the 
Great Depression.  Influenced by the hardship and economic instability his 
family endured, he used his intelligence to pursue a secure life in the 
corporate environment.

ALAN RACHINS:  Plays Douglas Brachman in TV hit "L.A. Law."  He left the Wharton 
School of Finance against his father's wishes to pursue an acting career.  
During the '60s he was in the cast of "Oh Calcutta," a highly controversial play 
where cast members appeared nude on stage.

BOB SPECTA:  Professional domino toppler.  As a high school senior, he 
originated the "domino toppling" category in the Guinness Book of World Records.  
He travels internationally doing domino shows and races and has appeared on 
network TV programs and in commercials.  An accomplished athlete, Specta is a 
veteran of 12 triathlons.

ADRIAN CRONAUER:  Radio personality and subject for the move "Good Morning 
Vietnam."  Started his radio career at 12 in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, 
where he hosted a children's amateur hour.  Worked as a DJ at various radio 
stations and in Saigon during the Vietnam War.  He is also a lawyer.  Cronauer 
was originally attracted to Mensa because of the work they do for gifted 
children.

GLORIA LA ROCHE:  Captain and instructor for United Airlines.  Product of a 
dysfunctional home, she used intelligence and perseverance to achieve her 
childhood dream of becoming a pilot.  She says it was extremely difficult for a 
woman like herself to break into the male dominated world of commercial 
aviation.

MARILYN VOS SAVANT:  Listed in the Guinness Hall of Fame for having the world's highest recorded 
I.Q. (228).  She is the wife of Robert Jarvik, inventor of the 
Jarvik 7 artificial heart.  She also writes "Ask Marilyn," a weekly column that 
appears nationally in "Parade" magazine.

GEENA DAVIS:  Actress.  Currently co-starring with Susan Sarandon in the movie 
hit "Thelma & Louise."  Received an Academy Award nomination for her role in 
"The Accidental Tourist."

HENRY MILLIGAN:  A boxer and a scholar, 1983 National Amateur Heavyweight 
champion who fought and won against Olympic heavyweight gold medalist Henry 
Tillman.  He once fought Mike Tyson in a televised fight.  Milligan recently 
worked his way through NYU Business School acting in commercials (e.g., for 
"Sports Illustrated" sneaker phone promotion).

JOHN N. MOORE:  University of Virginia law professor who specializes in 
international law.  The Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S. hired him to help the 
emirate recover damages inflicted since the August 1990 invasion by Iraq.

MELL LAZARUS:  Draws syndicated newspaper comic strips "Momma" and "Miss Peach."  
President of national Cartoonist Society, he has also published two novels and 
is now writing his third.

JUDGE ELLEN MORPHONIOS:  Nicknamed "Maximum Morphonios" for her strict rulings 
in Florida.  Former model and beauty queen (Coconut Harvest Maiden and Miss 
Southern Florida) and local radio personality, once said she "enjoyed being a 
sex symbol."  As a young mother and a legal secretary, she passed a Florida exam 
that allowed her to enter law school without an undergraduate degree.

PATRICIA PRATTIS JENNINGS:  Pianist with the Pittsburgh Symphony.  She is the 
symphony's first black member and has performed internationally.

RICHARD BOLLES:  Author of the world's top selling job-hunting book, "What Color 
is Your Parachute?"  Revised annually, the book has been on the New York Times 
Best Seller List for 228 weeks.  Bolles has two new books in progress--one on 
relationships, one on spirituality.  He is an ordained Episcopal priest who 
graduated from Harvard University cum laud with a physics degree.

VELMA JEREMIAH:  She is a retired attorney who graduated fourth in her law 
school class at age 47 and was one of the first women partners in a major Oregon 
law firm.  She is a grandmother, a working standup comic, and currently 
chairwoman of Mensa International.

JEAN AUEL:  Best-selling author of "Clan of the Cave Bear," Valley of Horses," 
"The Mammoth Hunters," and "Plains of Passage."  A former technical writer, she 
turned her attention to fiction, buttressed by much historical and 
anthropological research, touring areas she was to write about and teaching 
herself to make stone-age tools.