F. Clair Ross

The son of Clement V. and Maud McElwaine, Ross grew up in Sandy Lake, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

[3] Ross graduated from Columbia Law School, studying under future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harlan F. Stone, and was admitted to the Butler County Pennsylvania Bar in 1924.

[1] An active Democrat, Ross was appointed as deputy attorney general in the administration of Governor George Earle.

After a protracted primary battle, Ross was nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor in 1942, but he was defeated by Edward Martin.

[5] He suffered a heart attack in 1948[6] and died of a heart-related complications shortly after leaving a court session at the Philadelphia City Hall on January 17, 1956.