Robert S. Ross, Jr. - March 27, 1944 – September 30, 2013

Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on March 27, 1944, Robin was the son of Janet and Robert S. Ross. He received his early education at Episcopal Academy before graduating from St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He majored in Art History at Princeton University where he was President of the Ivy Club and a starting halfback on the Varsity soccer team. Robin served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard as a member of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry and received his law degree from Temple University.

In June, 1966, immediately after college graduation, Robin married Louise Potter and he started his legal career in her native New York where their two children were born. During their 48 year marriage the Rosses also resided in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, where they settled in 1988. In recent years, Robin and Louise shared their commitment to active working lives with a deep dedication to their family and growing grandchildren.

In the summer of 1964, Robin worked in the Pennsylvania delegation at the Republican Convention in San Francisco and was bitten by a life-long "bug” for politics, which he pursued with great accomplishment. In 1979, he joined Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh’s administration and in 1988 he was appointed Chief of Staff to Attorney General Thornburgh during the administration of President George H. W. Bush. In the ensuing years, Robin’s broad experience and sound judgment became the basis for a successful legal and government relations practice in Pennsylvania and Washington.

If family and politics were his life’s true passions, long distance running was another sphere of significant achievement. Building on his natural physical talents and his determined personality, Robin embodied the dogged endurance athlete. His training was legendary and he completed over thirty marathons, including a dozen in Boston, the most prestigious of all road races. Each year Robin and Louise would also visit friends in Jackson, Wyoming to ski, hike and fish in the breathtaking scenery of the Teton Valley.

Robin’s defining personal characteristic was his profound loyalty - to Louise, his family, his friends, his country, his political allies and the many institutions with which he was associated during his lifetime, including a variety of his favorite sports teams.

Robin was predeceased by his parents and is survived by Louise, his daughter Jennifer Ross McNulty of Washington DC, his son Robert S. Ross, III of Long Island, two brothers and five grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Capital Clubhouse, Inc., 4603 Kenmore Drive NW, Washington DC 20007.