 John Emory, the namesake of Emory University and the founder of New York University, Wesleyan University and Dickinson College, graduated from Washington College.Several alumni were successful writers including James M. Cain and Đỗ Nguyên Mai.Mary Adele France, who was the first president of St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Robert K. Crane, who discovered sodium-glucose cotransport, both found success in academia.