Celebrating remarkable people who got their start right here in the Queen City. Nancy Marchand- Born: June 19, 1928 

A Buffalo Beginning on a World Stage…Nancy Marchand was born and raised in Buffalo, where the city’s characteristic grit and authenticity seeped into everything she would later bring to the stage and screen. After studying at the prestigious Carnegie Institute of Technology — now Carnegie Mellon University — she launched a career in theater before making the seamless transition to television and film. The discipline she developed in those early training years proved to be the backbone of a performing life that would span more than five decades.

Four Emmys and a Mob Matriarch 

Television audiences first fell in love with Marchand as Margaret Pynchon, the steely newspaper publisher at the center of Lou Grant — a role that earned her four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Decades later, a new generation discovered her as Livia Soprano on The Sopranos, a portrait of cold manipulation so precise and unnerving it became one of the defining performances in the history of the medium. Nancy Marchand passed away in June 2000, but her work endures as a master class in the power of restraint, intelligence, and the honest pursuit of truth in acting — all values Buffalo would recognize as its own. 

Anson Goodyear- Born: June 20, 1877 

From Buffalo Business to the Birth of MoMA… Anson Conger Goodyear grew up in a Buffalo that was thriving on industry and entrepreneurial ambition, and he carried that energy with him throughout his career. He became a prominent figure in the city’s lumber and railroad sectors before his passions led him in a very different direction: the arts. A gifted patron with a genuine belief in the power of creative culture, Goodyear channeled his resources and vision toward something that would outlast any business enterprise. 

The Museum That Changed Modern Art 

In 1929, Goodyear was instrumental in founding the Museum of Modern Art in New York City — one of the most influential cultural institutions in the world — and served as its first president for a decade. Under his leadership, MoMA began collecting the works that would define its global reputation, establishing a space where innovation and dialogue in the visual arts could flourish. From Buffalo’s industrial roots, Goodyear built something that would shape how the world understands modern creativity. That is a legacy worthy of the Queen City.

Jessica White- Born: June 21, 1984 

From Kensington High School to the World’s Runways… Jessica White grew up in Buffalo, the daughter of a pastor, and found her early creative voice singing in a church-driven girl group. She attended Kensington High School, where her presence was already impossible to ignore. When she signed with IMG Models in Paris, her rise was swift and striking: within six months she was the face of CoverGirl and Chloé, walking runways for Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, and Oscar de la Renta, and appearing in the pages of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue. Tyra Banks called her the “model of her generation.” 

A Star Who Never Forgot Home 

Beyond modeling, Jessica built a screen career as well, appearing in Big Momma’s House 2 and CBS’s The Young and the Restless, and bringing her sharp personality to reality television on America’s Next Top Model and Famously Single. Through it all, she has remained openly proud of her

Buffalo roots — a reminder that the confidence and resilience this city instills don’t disappear under the lights of any runway or camera. 

Howard Bloom- Born: June 25, 1943 

The Man Who Made Rock Stars and Rethought the Universe… Howard Bloom grew up in Buffalo with the kind of restless, wide-ranging curiosity that refuses to stay in a single lane. That curiosity first took him into the music industry, where he became one of the most influential publicists of the modern era — working with Michael Jackson, Prince, Billy Joel, and Earth, Wind & Fire, among others, helping define the cultural mythology of some of the biggest names in pop history. His gift was the ability to connect analytical thinking with emotional storytelling: a very Buffalo combination of hard work and heart.