Percy Ross (November 22, 1916 – November 14, 2001) was an American

multi-millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

. He arrived in

St. Louis Park, Minnesota St. Louis Park is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 50,010 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a first-ring suburb immediately west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Min ...

around 1946–1947. He was associated with Ross and Ross Auctioneers. In 1959 he purchased a company called Poly-Tech, which made

polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...

plastic bag A plastic bag, poly bag, or pouch is a type of container made of thin, flexible, plastic film, nonwoven fabric, or plastic textile. Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, magazines, c ...

s. He died in

Edina, Minnesota Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

on November 10, 2001.Percy Ross Papers
/ref> Ross was best known for his

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, particularly through his ''Thanks a Million''

newspaper column A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication, where a writer expresses their own opinion in few columns allotted to them by the newspaper organisation. Columns are written by columnists. What different ...

, wherein he would often grant requests for readers in need. ''Thanks a Million'' ran in over 800 publications for 17 years. It eventually became a syndicated radio show running on over 400 radio stations. From the column and shows, he gave away an estimated US$20 to $30 million over a period of 17 years. Ross was born and raised in

Laurium, Michigan Laurium (; or ) is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan, in the center of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The population was 1,977 at the 2010 census. The village is mostly surrounded by Calumet Township, with ...

, on the

Keweenaw Peninsula The Keweenaw Peninsula ( , sometimes locally ) is the northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of "Copper Country." As o ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

's upper peninsula, about 10 miles from

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

References

General References

Percy Ross, Columnist and Philanthropist, Dies at 84Percy Ross, 84; Loved Giving Away Money
* ttps://longreads.com/2017/07/20/percy-ross-wants-to-give-you-money/ "Percy Ross Wants to Give You Money!"(

Longreads Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The com ...

) 1916 births 2001 deaths American columnists People from Laurium, Michigan 20th-century American philanthropists {{Philanthropist-stub