Simon "Si" Ross

The Ross, Ross-Brown and Ross-Kinrose families honor the passing of their beloved father and zadeh, Simon Ross.

Simon was born, Simon Rosenzweig, on November 7th, 1924 and died this past Wednesday, July the 11th at age 93.

Simon was born in East Los Angeles (he always claimed to “be from the East”) and grew up in Boyle Heights.  He recounted his memories of his wonderful upbringing in Boyle Heights often and his parents, Fannie and Nathan Rosenzweig, and older brother and sister, Dave and Sylvia, adored Simon, the baby of the family.

Simon had a close group of friends that he connected with in junior high who formed a club  called the Saxons and they remained lifelong friends. Simon was among the very last of the group to pass on.  His best friend, Cliff Simon, spoke to our dad often and Cliff continued to call right up to the very end.

Dad joined the Navy, attached to the Marines, and served during WWII.  He often would talk about being stationed near the equator on an island called Funafuti and how hellish it was there … and then being shipped to Hawaii and how wonderful that experience was in comparison.

In 1947, he met the love of his life, Florence Meyerson. They were married in 1948 and had their first child, Rosanna Lee, in 1950.  Soon the family grew to five with Marty and Jeff being born in 1952 and 1955.  Simon worked long hard hours running his Flying A gas station in Los Angeles. Despite his long working hours, Simon was an involved father and had an active social life with our mother, Florence, and their multitude of close friends and relatives.  Growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the 50s and 60s in a “Wonder Years” sort of neighborhood … on Delano Street … was a slice of heaven for all of us.  Simon was the Delano Street car mechanic and our wonderful neighbors on Delano Street shared many a defining moment with us.  One of the greatest days on Delano Street was when Simon sold the gas station and bought a catering truck lunch wagon.  Suddenly the Ross kids became very popular with a father who now owned a truck that carried candy bars, pastries, chili dogs, burritos and all-you -can-drink sodas! 

Simon was a lifelong sports fan and two of his most memorable pro-sports experiences were when he saw Sandy Koufax strike out 18 Giants at the LA Coliseum in 1959 and when he saw Koufax pitch a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs in 1965 at Dodger Stadium.  As coach of his sons' little league and senior league baseball teams he also had many a memorable moment.

Simon's marriage to Florence, in my opinion, was his greatest accomplishment.  Si and Florence were a true match made in heaven.  They adored each other, had countless great times together, travelled much of the world together, and, when Florence died in 2014, they had been married 66 years.  When their first grandkids came into their lives starting with Eliza in 1986 and then Leah in 1988 they were joyous beyond words and there was nothing they enjoyed more than being with them.  When Jeff and his wife, Louise, adopted Louise's sister's children, John Paul (JP) and Jomana, after her sister's unfortunate passing … suddenly two more grandkids were gifted to the Ross family and Si and Florence felt doubly blessed to now have four loving grandkids.

Simon enjoyed his time with so many caring and loving friends and relatives.  He was a soft-spoken, humble and incredibly kindhearted man who adored his family.  We always felt loved by our parents.  I don't believe there was ever an unkind word spoken about our dad, Simon Ross.  He's swing dancing with our mom hopefully now in a place of peace.
Simon's funeral will be July 15 at 2:00pm at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park.

...Family in the care of Erin Arteaga, Funeral Director