Dr. Ronald K. Ross

Ronald Ross M.D. PASADENA, California #45;- Dr. Ronald K. Ross, 57, formerly of Muscatine, died April 21, 2006, at his home in Pasadena. Service will be 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 29, 2006, at the St. Bede's Church, La Canada Flintridge, California. Cabot amp; Sons Funeral Home, Pasadena, is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be sent to the Dr. Ronald Ross Cancer Research Fund, USC Norris Cancer Center, 1441 Eastlake Ave., Room 8302, Los Angeles, CA 90033. Dr. Ross was born March 10, 1949, in Muscatine, the son of Kenneth L. and Betty L. Ross. He married Karen A. Chianta on August 19, 1972, in New Jersey. He graduated as salutatorian of his Muscatine High School class of 1967. He went on to complete his bachelor's degree in 1971 from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He then returned to his native Iowa to attend medical and graduate schools at the University of Iowa. In 1975, he received a doctor of medicine degree, as well as a master's degree in preventive medicine and environmental health. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer epidemiology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medic...[more]

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in 1976, he joined what was then the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Medicine as an instructor. By 1987, he had achieved the faculty rank of professor and, at that time, also began serving as the director of the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program, appointments he held until his death. He was the Flora L. Thornton Chair in Preventive Medicine and the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Professor of Preventive Medicine and Urology at what became the USC Keck School of Medicine. At the time of his death, he was also the deputy director of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and head of the school's Department of Preventive Medicine, the highest ranking preventive medicine department in the nation. He was a pioneering researcher, whose breakthroughs in understanding the causes and prevention of cancer brought hope to countless sufferers of this disease. With more than 250 scientific publications, he was considered a leading expert in hormone-related cancers, particularly of the breast, ovary, endometrium and prostate, and his work in this field garnered national and international acclaim. His research received the highest amount of funding from the National Institutes of Health of any faculty member at USC. At a special ceremony in February, he received the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award for Achievement from the University of Iowa Alumni Association, its highest honor bestowed on the university's graduates. It is granted to those achieving significant accomplishments in professional life or for distinguished humane service to their community, state or nation. He continued to serve his alma mater by participating on the advisory boards for both the University of Iowa's College of Public Health and the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. He was devoted to his family and enjoyed coaching little league, sailing vacations, annual fishing trips to Mexico with his children, as well as having them accompany him on a number of work-related trips to other international destinations, such as Asia, Africa and Australia. On his yearly visits to Iowa, he also appreciated eating pork tenderloin sandwiches from the Cheri-Top drive-in, a business his father began in 1956. Survivors include his wife of 33 years; two sons, Jason, 26, and Jonathan, 23, and a daughter, Kalena, 20, all of the greater Los Angeles area; his mother, Betty Ross of Muscatine; and two brothers, Kenneth of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and Troy of rural Muscatine. He was preceded in death by his father in 1963.