Tom Ross

We go back many years, from the time Tom & MJ moved to Fiddlesticks, and bought their home. Not only the normal "fun" of retirement like golf, but we boated together, including the Bahamas. Tom was the best, and married to a great woman, MJ. Love you both. Sue & Doug Walton

Darling Heather,
My thoughts and prayers are with you Tim, Sam, and Ian
i know how much you loved your father.
May he rest in peace and be forever remembered in your hearts.

Sincerely your friend,
Alice Bixby

Thank you Tom for passionately leading the LBCo - Denison connection and providing jobs and friendships for so many of us. Of all the work that Tom did over the years, I believe recruiting, hiring, and developing this group of exceptional young Denison talent at Burnett was perhaps his finest and greatest achievement. I know, at minimum, that he was immensely proud of this work and the representation of this work on the cover of Denison magazine. Later in my career at Burnett I would work for one of Tom's peers, J.B. Kovas. Kovas was also an EVP at Burnett but responsible for recruiting at Dartmouth. The year Burnett graced the cover of this Denison was the time that Denison, not Dartmouth, would claim the title as the University with the most recruits working at LBCo. This was a big deal. Tom literally changed the direction of my life in the most positive of ways and I will always be grateful. RIP!

Richard, Trudy and I send you our deepest sympathy in the passing of your Brother and we pray that your memories of him will fill your soul with joy.

Hi, Tommy here (Tom's son). Thanks to all, especially grandson Ian Freund, for all your delightful insights into my dad's life and legacy. Here are just a few of the many shots that I captured of Dad enjoying life to the fullest.

I knew TOm the whole time I worked at Leo Burnett, I think (1969-1997). We worked together on a number of accounts and became good friends. It was such a "small world" when I discovered that he married a sorority sister of mine from Northwestern, Mary Jean/MJ. He was a great guy. I'm so sorry for his family's loss.

We are very sorry for your loss.

Paul & Kathy

My wife Dian and I were blessed to meet Tom and MJ early on after they moved to Fiddlesticks. Over the years we were able to travel together, share meals and good wine, laugh and argue over politics. He was always curious and challenging intellectually.
Tom was a generous person who gave without fanfare or applause. He fulfilled his commitments without complaint or hesitance. Tom contributed to the betterment of his communities and left this world a better place.

Tom (or Papa Tom, as I called him) was my beloved grandfather. He was one of the hardest-working men I knew and played a vital role as both a mentor and a grandfather. Many of my fondest childhood memories are with Papa Tom, and I can´t even begin to count the valuable advice he shared every time we saw each other. Whether he was teaching me how to hit an amazing drive on the golf range or offering wisdom on investing early when I turned 18, he always knew what to say and how to say it. He was a man of great respect and kindness, and he carried himself with a level of poise and confidence that made him impossible to break. He taught me the importance of a firm, well-gripped handshake and how to greet new people with respect. Though he was a serious man, he was also full of life and humor. He had a way of catching you off guard with a joke, but he wasn´t afraid to be stern when it was necessary.

As I got older, my respect for Papa Tom only grew. Each year, when I visited Ft. Myers, I looked forward to learning something new from him. His love for sports, especially golf, rubbed off on me, even though I´ll never be quite as good as he was. Golfing at Fiddlesticks Country Club was the beginning of my own golfing journey. Now, at 24, I realize just how much I enjoy the sport. Playing with Papa Tom was something I always looked forward to as a child, whether it was practicing on the range or hitting the course with him. I knew I was lucky to have him as my coach and mentor early on in my golf career. He played the game with such a quiet confidence and discipline that I knew I was learning from the best.

A quote I fondly remember from one of our rounds together was, "A bad shot doesn´t mean it´s going to be a bad hole." I think about that often, both on and off the golf course. It´s a lesson that applies to all aspects of life: a single mistake doesn´t define your whole situation.

Another great gift Papa Tom gave me was the mentorship he offered through his boating skills. Over time, I realized just how much boating meant to him, especially during our trips to Ussepa Island aboard his 42' yacht. He was an absolute pro on the water, a true expert navigator-especially with a boat as tricky to park as that one! I have countless happy memories of those adventures, and it was always clear how much joy the water brought him. Later, when he bought a speedboat for the lake house at Lake Gogebic, his love for the water only grew, and he shared that passion with all of us, teaching us not just how to boat, but how to make lasting memories on the water. I wouldn´t have known how to park a boat-especially in choppy waters-if it weren´t for him.

It may seem strange, but I also noticed that I´ve inherited a habit from Papa Tom - sighing. I never thought much of it when I first saw him doing it, but after seeing it more often, I asked him why he sighed. He told me, "It helps me refresh." Now, I find myself doing the same - it´s not necessarily a sigh of frustration or sadness, but just a way to clear my mind and reset.

It´s these small moments and pieces of advice that have stuck with me. Papa Tom´s wisdom didn´t always come in the form of grand plans or expert tips. Sometimes it was just simple, thoughtful guidance, like the importance of a good handshake or how to keep perspective when things go awry. And that´s why I´ll carry his advice with me for the rest of my life - because it was always meaningful, no matter how small the lesson seemed at the time.

Tom was a force of nature. Always thinking, acting, helping his brothers and making the world a better place.

Love to all the Rosses.

Peter Werrenrath
Neighbor, early 1950s
Friend to Richard and the rest of the Ross family from that point onward.

So many fond memories of Tom , together with his loving best friend and wife of 57 years, MJ.
Tom´s energy , persistence , and generosity touched many lives in his generation of living at Fiddlesticks CC. An avid , Tom pursued his ambition to become a scratch golfer soon after arriving at Fiddlesticks, but as a member of our less gifted golf group he was eventually persuaded to abandon this quest and delegated this endeavor to his talented younger brother, Rob.
Ever persistent , Tom turned his focus to boating with MJ , and together they shared many memorable boating adventures with their Fiddlesticks
friends.
We were privileged while living at Fiddlesticks to share many holidays with Tom, MJ, and his loving family members.

And Now For The Fun Part...

As I read this Obituary, I (Rob Ross, Tom´s brother) am awe-struck by the enormity of Tom´s life. This is such a small window into who he was and what he accomplished. If you are reading this obituary on Legacy.com, I invite you to contribute your stories and remembrances. They will be preserved here and shared during the Celebration of Life. Heather has promised a Eulogy. I´m going to predict it´ll be a hum-dinger!

Tom´s spectacular life started with characteristic aplomb: He was born in an earthquake in Lima, Peru, on October 2, 1942. His parents, Jack and Jean (Roig) Ross, were in country on assignment from W.R. Grace and Company, during the time in which Tom´s famous grandfather, Harold J. Roig, was President of Pan-American Grace Airlines, the pioneer of airline service to South America.

In Tom´s early years, as in most of his life, Tom´s kinetic energy was so strong, no one could contain it, literally. Innately curious and clever even as a toddler, he disassembled his own crib with his tiny hands.

As a boy, Tom was always the leader of the pack, and sometimes boys will be boys! He would later disavow his own legendary mischief as a young child, as if it must have been someone else who was caught playing `Superman ´with a young friend, leaping off the 20´ high roof of the house with a pretend cape, joyriding in the family car before he had a license, blowing things up with homemade fireworks and more.

He was a star athlete at a young age, learning to pole vault by building his own pit and runway in the backyard. He played every sport imaginable, including golf, tennis and curling, but he excelled in track and diving, lettering on the varsity teams at Highland Park High School and continuing through Denison University, where he attained his Bachelor´s degree in 1964.

Tom and MJ lived in several locations in suburban Chicago in their early years together, but most beloved was their incredible home in Barrington Hills, Illinois in which they raised the family from the 1980´s through 2005. With Tom´s vision and lots of his own hands-on labor, a dilapidated, converted farmhouse and barn became the family mansion on over 7 acres, with its own tennis court, fishing pond, swimming pool and wave pool. After Tom´s first retirement, in 1997, he became a nearly `scratch ´golfer, as a member of Barrington Hills Country Club. He continued as an accomplished golfer at Fiddlesticks Country Club in Ft. Myers. Florida.

As his golf game became more frustrating with age, he began a whole new career as an amateur boat captain, teaching himself how to captain a 42 ´motor yacht. (If you don´t know about boating, that´s huge for an amateur to handle. Tom was always thinking big!) He bought the boat in Detroit, so his very first sea adventure was to sail it to Chicago. Later, with the help of a hired captain, he sailed the Lady Mary Jean from Chicago all the way to Florida, via the Erie Canal, with MJ by his side, probably scarred for her life by the terrors of being grounded on Cape Fear and other close calls throughout the month on the lakes, passing great cities and out in the open ocean. (Throughout all his adventures, she was always right there with him.) In Florida, Tom and a cadre of boating friends had many sea adventures in and around the coastal waters of both coasts.

He continued to keep his hand in business, consulting, speaking, and
mentoring, until the mid-2000´s, when he decided to go back to work full-time as the CEO of his brother Rob´s software company. They worked together and built the business until 2016, when they sold it to their top two female employees, who Tom had mentored for years. As always, Tom was selfless in service to others, helping his brother (me) retire comfortably and ensuring the continuation of the company, which is still thriving today.