These well-known artists, ambassadors, CEOs and other luminaries were once refugees who fled war or persecution.
- Josef Albers, Artist
- Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, current IRC Overseer
- Hannah Arendt, Philosopher and Author
- Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dancer
- Max Beckmann, Artist
- Hans Bethe, Physicist and Nobel Laureate
- W. Michael Blumenthal, Former Secretary of Treasury, current IRC Overseer
- Marc Chagall, Artist
- Nadia Comaneci, Olympic gymnast
- Salvador Dali, Artist
- The Dalai Lama, leader-in-exile and Nobel Laureate
- Peter Drucker, Author and Management Consultant
- Albert Einstein, Nobel Laureate
- Max Ernst, Artist
- Gloria Estefan, Singer
- Lion Feuchtwanger, Author
- Andy Garcia, Actor
- Alexander Ginsburg, Russian dissident during the Cold War
- Roberto Goizuetta, former CEO of Coca Cola
- Walter Gropius, Artist
- George Grosz, Artist
- Andrew S. Grove, Chairman of Intel Corp., IRC Overseer
- Henry Grunwald, Former Editor-in-Chief, Time Inc.,
- John Heartfield, Artist
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist Master
- Wassily Kandinsky, Artist
- Henry Kissinger, Former Secretary of State, current IRC Overseer
- John G. Kemeny, computer pioneer and President of Dartmouth College from 1970-81
- Andre Kertesz, Photographer
- Oskar Kokoschka, Artist
- Madeleine Kunin, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, former Governor of Vermont
- Tom Lantos, U.S. Congressman (Calif)
- Femand Leger, Artist
- Jacques Lipchitz, Artist
- Andre Masson, Artist
- Andre Meyerhoff, Scientist and Nobel Laureate
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architect
- Dith Pran, Photographer
- Gen. John Shalikashvili, Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Author
- Elie Wiesel, author and Nobel Laureate, IRC Overseer