Dr Peter Charles Ross

1923 - 2021

Mystic - Dr. Peter Charles Ross, 98, died peacefully at his Vero Beach, Fla. home Thursday, Oct. 14, surrounded by family.

No obituary can fully convey the breadth and depth of his long life. It would take a full-length movie, starring someone like Gregory Peck or Sean Connery (dark, lean, ruggedly good looking, stern when needed, a winning smile when not). The trailer would show him show-jumping horses; flying airplanes; racing his 38-foot sloop, Tynaje, and winning; remediating dental flaws and damage as his day job; and in the evening, being the greatest dad ever, demanding but fair and caring.

Peter was born in Long Branch, N.J., April 28, 1923, to Charles and Mae Ross. He was in college at the University Heights Division of New York University in 1941 when World War II began. He was accepted in the Army Specialized Training Program that enabled him to complete college and enter medical school. As a result, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943 and began studies at the New York University College of Dentistry. After being discharged from the Army in 1945 and awarded a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1946, he established a dental office in Manhattan and was a member of the teaching staff of the College of Dentistry and subsequently, at the New York Polyclinic Postgraduate Medical School.

In 1953, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve as a Lieutenant Commander due to the urgent need for medical officers as a result of the buildup of the military services during the Korean War. He was assigned to the Naval Submarine Base New London. Discharged in 1956, he opened a dental practice in Groton, which is still in business today, and moved to Mason's Island in Mystic with his wife Janet.

Up until then, one of his main loves was being on horseback, including show jumping. When he lived in New York City, for example, he tested "raw recruit" horses as potential mounts for the NYPD. One of his favorite stories was crossing 5th Avenue with the horse only on its hind legs because it had reared up when a bus backfired. He also remembered that the benches in Central Park made for good jumps. He would go on to be a prize-winning show jumper on his beloved horse, Sheik. In the '60s and '70s, he owned a 16-horse stable in Mystic.

Nevertheless, his discovery of ocean sailing, both recreational and competitive, subsequently absorbed him almost totally. He sailed up and down east coast (twice single-handed from Florida to New England), to Europe, the Caribbean, Bermuda and Nova Scotia - surviving two tropical storms and a hurricane at sea. He earned his pilot's license so he could fly inter-island in the Caribbean and practice dentistry there (and sail) in the winter months, establishing a dental practice in Barbados for a few years in the 1960s.

In 1975, he created ICE, the Institute of Continuing Education, which offered programs featuring the latest dental updates for practicing dentists, and was president until 1985. His passion for the sea and entrepreneurial spirit spawned two charter businesses leasing comfortable cruising boats: Mystic Yacht Charters in Mystic, Connecticut and Miami Beach, Florida and Divi-Divi Charters in Belize.

As far as his own sailing legacy goes, his Ohlson 38, a Swedish sloop, was very well known at yacht clubs in New England and elsewhere. Most race competitors only saw its name, Tynaje-after his wife Janet-on its stern, often with Peter Jr. in the crew. He was an active member at one time or another of the Cruising Club of America, Ram Island Yacht Club (past Commodore), Mason's Island Yacht Club, Corinthian Yacht Club, Off Soundings Club, Storm Trysail Club, Essex Yacht Club, Wadawanuck Club, Stonington Harbor Yacht Club, Watch Hill Yacht Club, and last but not least-following retirement from dentistry in 1986 but not sailing competition-the Mason's Island ROMEOs.

Peter's wife Janet died in 1981. He married Joan Hagen in 1990. The Moorings Yacht and Country Club in Vero Beach, Fla. became their winter home, with the remainder of the year spent on Mason's Island or sailing. Besides Joan, he leaves his children, Claudia Ross, Peter Ross Jr., Kimberly Ross, and Jonathan Barnett; three stepchildren, Winston, Lesley, and Diana; as well as six grandchildren, who lovingly knew him as "Skipper": Andrew Freezer, Piers Freezer, Austin Ross, Ashly Cucinotta, Alden Schuman, and Miles Schuman; and two great-grandchildren. He is survived by one sister, Marian Mizelle.