1959) – news anchor, political commentator, and sports journalist Mary White Ovington (1865–1951) – NAACP founder P Bob Packwood (born 1932) – U.S. Senator from Oregon (1969–1995) John Palmer (1742–1786) – English Unitarian minister David Park (1911–1960) – West coast painter. Isaac Parker (1768–1830) – Massachusetts Congressman and jurist, including Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1814 to his death. Theodore Parker (1810–1860) – Unitarian minister and transcendentalist Linus Pauling (1901–1994) – Nobel Laureate for Peace and for Chemistry Randy Pausch (1960–2008) – computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Author of The Last Lecture Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979) – astronomer and astrophysicist. Richard Peacock (1820–1889) – British locomotive engineer and philanthropist Laura Pedersen (born 1965) – American author, journalist, playwright and humorist. Books and plays with humanist themes. Lifelong UU, Interfaith minister. Sarah Maria Clinton Perkins (1824-1905) – American Universalist minister, social reformer, lecturer, editor, author Melissa Harris-Perry (born 1973) – professor, author, and political commentator on MSNBC hosting the Melissa Harris-Perry TV program. William James Perry, (born 1927) – former United States Secretary of Defense William T. Pheiffer (1898–1986) – American lawyer/politician Utah Phillips, (1935–2008) – American singer, songwriter and homeless advocate William Pickering (1910–2004) – space explorer James Pierpont (1822–1893) – songwriter ("Jingle Bells") Daniel Pinkham (1923–2006) – composer John Platts (1775–1837) – English Unitarian minister and author Van Rensselaer Potter (1911–2001) – global bioethicist Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) – discoverer of oxygen and Unitarian minister George Pullman (1831–1897) – Universalist Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) – American writer, poet Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) – British children's writer of the famous "Peter Rabbit" stories R Mary Jane Rathbun (1860–1943) – marine zoologist James Reeb (1927–1965) – civil-rights martyr Curtis W. Reese (1887–1961) – religious humanist Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) – actor and Unitarian Universalist James Relly (c. 1722–1778) – Universalist Paul Revere (1735–1818) – American silversmith, industrialist and patriot David Ricardo (1772–1823) – British classical economist noted for creating the concept of comparative advantage Malvina Reynolds (1900–1978) – songwriter / singer / activist Mark Ritchie (born 1951) – Minnesota Secretary of State (2007–) Hugh Ronalds (1760-1833) – British horticulturalist and nurseryman Francis Ronalds (1788-1873) – English inventor of the electric telegraph Benjamin Rush (1745–1813) – very active in the Universalist movement, although never technically joined a Universalist congregation S Mary Augusta Safford (1851–1927) – Unitarian Minister and leader of the Iowa Sisterhood. Leverett Saltonstall (1892–1979) – U.S. Senator from Massachusetts