Born: August 16, 1940
Died: April 13, 2016
Mike Ross died in Alexandria, VA. He was born in New York City but grew up in Scarsdale, NY, and graduated from Scarsdale High School. He was the son of Nathan Franklin Ross and Margaret Herdegn Ross. His older brother, David A. Ross, was a member of the Yale Class of 1960.
At Yale, he roomed in Branford with Ted Volckhausen and Alex Garvin. A culture and behavior honors major, he was on the Dean’s List and was a Ranking Scholar. He had a scholarship from the Yale Club of NY. He was the Executive Assistant of Alpha Phi Omega and also competed on the Branford touch football squad. While at Yale, he married Judy Buckley and then moved to the Boston area. They had two children.
Mike worked first in the field of education in the Boston area, later in the ’90s for the Department of Education in Washington. Unfortunately, he did not contribute to any of our class books, but we have responses from Ted and Alex. Ted saw him in the Boston years, and around 1970, Mike had breakfast with Alex, Ted, his wife and son Tom and daughter. Regrettably, we do not know the name of Mike’s daughter.
Alex Garvin wrote: “Mike Ross was a good friend and roommate. He changed my life by giving me a Christmas gift during our senior year, Jane Jacobs’ book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. It diverted me from a career in architecture to city planning…. He also helped me to understand the importance of Malcolm X. I saw Mike a few times after graduation when he was living in Washington, DC. At that time, he was working the federal government, dealing with Civil Rights issues and discrimination against African Americans. He was very private and difficult to reach.”
Mike and his wife Judy separated many years ago and we do not know if she survived him.
Alex Garvin and Ted Volckhausen contributed to this obituary.
John Harger Stewart