Donald Ross

Donald Keith Ross Sr. was born July 1, 1925, in Rochester, New York, the son of Alexander Ross and the former Althea Grainger. He was valedictorian of the Ridgewood High School class of 1942 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Admitted to Princeton University in New Jersey, Ross was granted leave in October 1943 to enter the U.S. Armed Forces. Under the V-12 Navy College Training Program, he enrolled at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he majored in electrical engineering and was a member of the varsity swim team. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1946 under the accelerated wartime study program. Two years later, he earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. During more than four decades at New York Life, Ross ascended the organizational ranks. He started as a trainee and became a securities analyst. In 1974, he was made an executive vice president, and, in 1979, vice chairman. In January 1981, Ross was named chairman and chief executive, succeeding R. Manning Brown, who retired at 65. Donald Ross Jr. followed his father into finance. He is CEO at PDQ Enterprises LLC, a self-funded dark pool, based in Glenview, Illinois. Under Ross’s leadership, New York Life was one of the largest and earliest corporate supporters of AIDS education and research. He served as co-chairman, with actress Elizabeth Taylor, of the 1987 American Foundation for AIDS Research awards dinner, underwritten by the company. His civic activities also included serving as chairman of the board of trustees of the YMCA of Greater New York and as a trustee of the Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He also served on the board of the New York Chamber of Commerce. Survivors include his wife, the former Mary Fyffe, whom he married in 1949, and children Catherine Lesher, Susan Morris, Deborah Cipriano and Donald Ross Jr.; a brother, Alexander; nine grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; and eight great-children.