Charles O. Ross

Charles O. Ross, Jr. was born in Bessemer, Alabama to Charlie Sarah Ross on January 16, 1934. He attended Wenona High School in Birmingham, Alabama where he played varsity basketball and football. He was awarded an athletic scholarship to play basketball for Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1951. While at Stillman, he majored in English and met his college sweetheart, Ruth Forte. After graduating from Stillman College in 1955 with a B.A. in English he and Ruth relocated to Gary, Indiana and were married in 1958. Their two sons, Charles and Marcus were born while the couple resided in Gary. Professor Ross received his Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Chicago in 1960 and was employed with the Chicago Welfare Council while engaging in grass roots electoral politics in Gary, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois and the struggle for racial equality and social justice during the height of the civil rights movement. Professor Ross and his family relocated to Columbus, Ohio in 1970 when he joined the faculty at The Ohio State University as an Associate Professor in the College of Social Work. In addition to his teaching responsibilities Professor Ross served as the inaugural chairperson of the Black Studies Department. Professor Ross received the Outstanding Professor award in the College of Social Work and served as faculty advisor to Mwanafunzi, the local undergraduate chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers. Professor Ross engaged in mass community mobilization and grass roots activism at The Ohio State University and Columbus community at large during a period of social upheaval in the city of Columbus. He was instrumental in raising community awareness on issues such as targeted law enforcement and excessive force and recruitment and retention of African American students, faculty and staff and diversity and inclusion on The Ohio State University Board of Trustees. He had a demonstrated commitment to youth throughout his professional life. He established an independent, African centered curriculum school for elementary and middle school aged youth, Harambee Uhuru, which operated on the near east side of Columbus for a decade and The Ohio State University College Bound Program, a faculty sponsored summer enrichment camp for elementary and middle school children in the Columbus and Central Ohio Metropolitan area. Beyond his academic and community outreach endeavors, Professor Ross played an active role in electoral politics at the local and national level. He served as a key kitchen cabinet member in the successful grass roots campaign effort to elect Richard Hatcher as the first African American mayor in Gary, Indiana and as a political consultant to the campaign to elect Harold Washington as the first African American Mayor in Chicago, Illinois. In addition, Professor Ross ran as an independent write in candidate for mayor of Columbus, Ohio in 1984 and served as a delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention for Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. Professor Ross retired from the Ohio State University as an Emeritus faculty member in 2006 after 35 years of service and distinguished himself in the Columbus community as an educator, community activist, and public speaker. Left to cherish his memories are his loving and devoted wife of 54 years, Ruth (Forte), his two(2) adult sons, Charles and Marcus, brother Hollis Bobby Ross Sr., sister John Alma Gould, daughter-in-law Valeria Ross and grandchildren Courtney and Tonell, and a host of other relatives and friends.