Deacon Michael Ross incenses the congregation at St. Michael Church, Kona. (Photo courtesy of family of Michael Ross)
Deacon Michael David Ross, a former professor and academic dean at the Pontifical College Josephinum who retired in Hawaii five years ago, died March 3 while hospitalized in Honolulu of kidney failure and complications from severe pancreatitis. A sign in his room asked that he be addressed as “Deacon Mike,” reflecting his commitment to and love for the church. He was 78.
Deacon Ross was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1940, to Sidney Ross and Lee (Genud) Ross, both first-generation Americans of Jewish descent. As members of the Communist Party, his parents worked actively with poor and marginalized people for democracy and justice, providing role models for their children’s lifetimes of social justice service.
The Ross family moved to Baldwin, Long Island, in 1948, where Michael graduated from high school. He then attended Antioch College, class of 1963, where he majored in and taught history at an Antioch summer program. Following graduation, he attended Columbia University, where he earned a doctorate in political science, and went on to teach and serve as assistant dean at Columbia College.
In college and during a year abroad at Leeds University in England, Ross was a leader in civil rights activities, helping to integrate a barbershop in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and to desegregate public accommodations in both countries. While studying and teaching, he also participated in community programs at a drug rehabilitation program for young adults in New York City.
Ross transitioned to working as an administrator for several psychiatric hospitals in New York and New Jersey. He was the acting chief executive officer of Ancora Psychiatric Hospital and the CEO of both Greystone and Marlboro Hospitals in New Jersey, from 1981 to 1994.
In 1990, Ross converted to Catholicism and returned to school to enrich his education and capacity for religious service. He was ordained a permanent deacon on May 14, 1994, and served in diaconal ministry at St. Paul Church in Princeton, New Jersey, from 1994 to 2003. In 2003, he earned a second doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of America.
In 2003, Deacon Ross moved to Columbus, Ohio, to become a systematic theology professor at the Pontifical College Josephinum. He was later appointed Josephinum’s academic dean and then provost. While in Columbus, he served at St. Mary Parish, Columbus, from 2003 to 2007, and St. Joan of Arc Parish, Powell, from 2007 to 2014. After retirement from the college, he remained active with the Josephinum Distance Learning Program, which he had founded in 2008.
The deacon and his wife, Betty, moved to Kona in 2014. In Hawaii, he served as the coordinator of spiritual formation for the permanent deacon formation program of the Diocese of Honolulu, and an instructor and advisor. During this time, he also served as the president of the board of directors of West Hawaii Habitat for Humanity. He was actively serving in ministry at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Kona at the time of his death.
Deacon Ross is survived by his wife of over 45 years, Betty David Ross; his beloved son, Damon Ross; his first wife and Damon’s birth mother, Jean Ross; and Jean’s husband, John Womack; his daughter-in-law, Cylin; his grandson, August; his sister, Randy Ross; his nieces, Tara and Shivani Ganguly; his grand-nephew, Sidney Roth-Ganguly; and his godchildren, Yvette Minear, her husband, Josh, and Michael “Mowgli” Bunce. His energy, kindness and wit, and his example of scholarship, service, and love of family and community, continue to live on in those who survive him, and inspire those who have been privileged to know him. We will never forget him.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 30, at St. Michael Church in Kailua-Kona, visitation at 9 a.m., Mass at 10 a.m., and reception at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the following organizations that Michael was deeply involved in: Habitat for Humanity, P.O. Box 4619, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745; and St. Michael Church, 75-5769 Alii Drive, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740, memo “debt reduction.”
