Claude Linwood Ross

The first of six children born to Mabel and Claude Ross Sr., Claude Linwood Ross Jr. entered the world on August 7, 1941. Known affectionately by his brother John and sisters Colleen, Mabel, Linda and Melissa as “Junie Reds from Providence Park”, Claude was soon after baptized at the Providence Baptist Church. During his childhood years he displayed the artistic creativity and intellectual curiosity that would later earn him a full academic scholarship to Howard University following his graduation from Armstrong High School in 1960. Although he enjoyed painting and considered a career in the arts, Claude chose to focus his intellect on his engineering studies at Howard, where in 1964 he graduated as the valedictorian of his engineering class. Following his service in the Army’s Engineer Corps based in Ft. Aberdeen, MD, Claude moved back to Washington D.C. to take a position as PEPCO as one of the power company’s first black engineers. Meanwhile, he and his first wife Evelyn, whom he had married in 1965, were raising the first of their three children, Leslie Ann Ross. In the years to come Candace Maria and Dax-Devlon would also be born of that union. From PEPCO, Claude would go onto electrical engineering positions at GSA (General Services Administration), the V.A. Hospital, the Department of the Navy and Howard University. In 1973, he became one of the first black engineers in the Washington, D.C. area to earn his P.E. (Professional Engineer) license, which would open further doors. By the mid-seventies he was working full time while operating his own engineering firm, taking Masters Courses, instructing at The University of the District of Columbia, and raising a family. The passing years saw the soaring of his reputation as an electrical engineer of unparalleled skill and integrity. In the 1980s Claude’s practice would continue to blossom as he traveled and worked throughout the United States. In 1986 Claude had a fourth child, Galen, with his second wife Iris Ross. They would later move to Sacramento, California where Claude continued to practice both independently and for the State of California. It was during this stage of his life that began an intense exploration of science, religion, philosophy, art, culture and civilization that ultimately propelled his mind and his spirit to ever higher levels of experience and understanding. In his bedroom he had but two discernible creature comforts, the first a photograph of the universe taken by the Hubble Spacecraft, the second a telescope he used to gaze upon the stars at night. We must imagine that Claude is among those stars now. Claude Linwood Ross is survived by four children, four grandchildren, five brothers and sisters, his first and second wife and ten nieces and nephews. He will be missed.

Tributes

Claude Linwood Ross

August 7, 1941 - November 5, 2004