Gary Edward Ross

Dr. Gary Edward Ross peacefully passed away on April 19, 2024. He was born July 3, 1947 in Bismark, ND to Gerald C. and Patricia (McAvoy) Ross. The happiest years of his life were during his marriage to Linda (Smith) who was raised in Marine City, MI, Gary had met Linda during his years working at St. Joseph Health System in Flint MI.
His funeral service will be held at 11 AM on Friday April 26, 2024 at the Mumford-Hudson Funeral Home, Otisville MI. Burial will follow in Smith Hill Cemetery. The family will receive visitors on Thursday April 25, 2024 from 1-4 PM and again from 6-8 PM at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Otisville Area Historical Society, 122 E Main St Otisville MI 48463, or to the Genesee County Historical Society, 316 Water St. Flint MI 48503.
Gary graduated from Creighton Preparatory high school in Omaha, NE; received his Bachelor of arts in Philosophy from Creighton University; Master of Science in Counseling and Gerontology from the University of Nebraska-Omaha; and PhD in Educational Psychology and Social Foundations from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He began his university career in 1974 as academic Coordinator for the Gerontology Program at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. In 1977 he transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he became the associate Chief of Geriatrics and Gerontology in The Department of Internal Medicine. In 1983 he was recruited to St. Joseph Health System in Flint, Michigan as Executive Director of the Center for Gerontology and Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State University. In 1992 he was asked to take a position as a hospital administrator for Genesys Health System from where he retired as Senior Executive/Vice-President in 2003.
During his career Dr. Ross served on numerous Boards and Committees including; the State of Michigan Governor's Task Force on Alzheimer's disease (Lansing, MI); the Catholic Health Association Board of Trustee's (St. Louis, MO); Eastern Mercy Health System Board of Trustee's (Philadelphia, PA); Mercy Medical Board of Trustees (Daphne, AL); and the Genesys Hurley Cancer Center Board of Trustees (Flint, MI). Throughout his life, Gary had a profound love of history. This led him and wife Linda to restore the "Laing-Mason Home", a State of Michigan Historic Landmark located on ten acres at the Ross Hermitage where he lived from 1992-2024.
Throughout his Adult life, Gary cherished the time he spent with his children and grandchildren. He relished Linda's cooking accompanied with fine wine from their wine cellar. He also enjoyed studying philosophy, psychology, gerontology, architecture, genealogy, and early American history. He loved the outdoors and spent as much time as possible engaged in landscape projects, gardening, camping, building, and flying radio-controlled airplanes, and participating in shotgun sports.
In addition to his pride in his Irish heritage, Gary was also an ardent and life-long fan of Nebraska football. He particularly had fun with the back-and-forth bantering during football season with his Michigan State and University of Michigan friends. Gary is survived by his wife Linda; Children: Sean (Ann) Ross, Ryan (Shelly) Ross, and Heather Ross; stepdaughter Jennifer Mikolowski, eight grandchildren, two great grandchildren, five step-grandchildren: and siblings Terry (Jolene) Ross and Tim Ross. He was preceded in death by both is parents and son Greg Ross.
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