[1] Later, he began marketing clothing and pharmaceuticals, expanding into various international businesses such as steel, petro chemicals, and electronics.

In 1972, Time magazine dubbed Ross, "one of the new Marco Polos", referring to his far-flung business activities.

[1] He was one of the first entrepreneurs to begin doing business behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe with the then-Communist countries of Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania.

Ross was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee.

They had five children and maintained homes in Palm Beach, Florida, and Manhattan, where he died on March 19, 2011, after a 10-year battle with bladder cancer.