Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946-1999) - As one half of the movie critic duo, Siskel and Ebert, and as movie reviewer for the Chicago Tribune, Gene Siskel was one of the most influential critics in the world. The Film Center in Chicago, one of his passions, was renamed the Gene Siskel Film Center in his memory. Together with Roger Ebert, Siskel earned 1 Emmy and 6 Emmy nominations.

Howard Robert Horvitz (May 8, 1947 - present) - Horvitz shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.' He is currently Professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

Nathan Rabin - Rabin is the Head Writer of The Onion’s entertainment section, The A.V. Club, and author of the popular column "My Year of Flops." He was a regular critic on AMC’s Movie Club With John Ridley in 2004-2005 and co-wrote the interview collection "Tenacity Of The Cockroach." His memoir, published in 2009, is titled "The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought To You By Pop Culture"

Sandra Pesmen - Pesmen graduated from the University of ILL, Urbana , Journalism College in 1952 and is a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame and the U of I Media Hall of Fame. Other honors include a Peter Lisagor Award, an IL State Medical Journalism Award and the Chicago Newspaper Guild’s Stick o’ Type award. She was a features writer and reporter for Lerner Newspapers, then for The Chicago Daily News, and was first features editor of Crain's Chicago Business. Pesmen then became Crain's Corporate Features Editor. She wrote the Executive Woman column for North Shore magazine for 20 years. Her “retirement” consists of hosting the blog www.widowslist.com, a Web Site she developed after the death of her husband, Harold W. Pesmen, a graduate of De Witt Clinton Elementary and Nicholas Senn High Schools.