Robert Ross (born Robert Rosen; December 26, 1918 – March 19, 2011) was an international business entrepreneur who founded the

Ross University School of Medicine Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is a private for-profit medical school. Its main campus is located in Barbados, and separate administrative offices are located in Iselin, New Jersey, and Miramar, Florida, in the United States. Prior ...

in 1978 and the

University of Medicine and Health Sciences The University of Medicine and Health Sciences (also known as UMHS) is a private, for-profit medical school located in Basseterre, Saint Kitts in the Caribbean. UMHS confers upon its graduates the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. The university a ...

in 2007 on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.

Career

Ross was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, and served in the U.S. Army during WWII. After his return to Detroit following his discharge from the Army, he began marketing television sets in anticipation of the post-war growth of television broadcasting. Later, he began marketing clothing and pharmaceuticals, expanding into various international businesses such as steel, petro chemicals, and electronics. In 1972, ''Time'' magazine dubbed Ross, "one of the new

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

s", referring to his far-flung business activities. He was one of the first entrepreneurs to begin doing business behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

in Eastern Europe with the then-Communist countries of Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania. His export-import business eventually expanded to include the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

. Concerned about the shortage of physicians and believing that more medical school admissions were needed, he began the

in 1978. In 2003, he sold the for-profit school to

DeVry Education Group Adtalem Global Education Inc. is an American corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, that operates several for-profit school, for-profit higher education institutions, including American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Chamberlai ...

for $310 million. He subsequently founded the

on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts in 2007.

Personal life

Ross was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the

Southern College of Optometry The Southern College of Optometry is a privately owned educational institution located in Memphis, Tennessee. It specializes in optometry and offers a comprehensive program in this field. History The Southern College of Optometry (SCO) is a pri ...

in Memphis, Tennessee. He was married for more than 40 years to his wife, Anne. They had five children and maintained homes in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

, and Manhattan, where he died on March 19, 2011, after a 10-year battle with

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...

. He was 92 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Robert 1918 births 2011 deaths Businesspeople from Detroit University and college founders 20th-century American businesspeople United States Army personnel of World War II