Gene Ross; Community Activist Worked on Behalf of Deaf

Gene Ross, 75, community leader who aided the deaf. Ross graduated from the University of Redlands and served in the Navy during World War II. In his business career, Ross recruited college graduates to work in aerospace and later the Federated Department Stores. Privately, he was active in the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Cal State Northridge administration and the Winnett Foundation, which benefits Bullocks retirees. The father of a deaf son named Willie, Ross co-chaired the creation of the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow, Mass. The group currently serves hundreds of hearing-impaired schoolchildren. He was also vice president of the Foundation for the Developmentally Disabled in Woodland Hills, which supports a residential facility for the deaf and developmentally disabled. On Jan. 27 in Santa Monica of cancer.