Russell M. Ross died suddenly in Iowa City, Iowa, on April 27, 2010, at the age of 88. He was active until his final days. Following his retirement in 1991, he continued to teach students throughout the state in the University of Iowa's distance learning program. He taught in it until the day before he died.
Professor Ross was born on June 2, 1921, in Washington, Iowa, 35 miles from Iowa City. After graduation from high school, he entered the University of Iowa, from which he received a B.S. degree in 1942. He enlisted in the navy during World War II and served on the USS Manila Bay. In 1944, he married Shirley Jackson of Blairstown, Iowa, who died in 1974. In 1982, he married Jo Ellen Rude of Hornick, Iowa.
Returning to the University after the war, he received his Ph.D. degree from Iowa in 1948. He was appointed as an assistant professor in the department at a time when the faculty was recruited primarily from its own graduates.
Russ was a uniquely important member of the Iowa department. He was its tie to the state through the courses he taught, the subjects of his books and publications, and the number of his students who pursued careers in Iowa government. For much of his career, he was the department's public face, frequently providing campaign and election analysis for several area television stations and the Des Moines Register. His devotion to the state in which he was born and bred, and to its university, was manifest in everything he did.
Russ served twice as the department's chair, volunteering for that unpopular duty both times when the department urgently needed him. To this day, he holds the record for years of service in that position, after the department abandoned permanent headships in 1959. He was also the department's historian and it is thanks to him that the department has a chronicle of its development during its first century and a quarter. His acquaintance with the department's graduates was a mine of information that he had on tap, ready to provide to department administrators whenever they needed it.
Over the 62 years during which Russ taught in the department, it changed fundamentally. He took these changes in stride. When he was first appointed, all but two of his colleagues held Iowa degrees, as he did. By the time he retired, 19 years ago, he was the only Iowa Ph.D. in the department. All of his colleagues were from elsewhere. He welcomed them all. Among his Ph.D. students of whom he was most proud was Jewel Prestage, who came to do graduate work at the University of Iowa in 1951 when no southern university would accept an African American student. She went on to positions of leadership in the discipline of political science. She said often that she owed her career to Russell Ross.
Russ exemplified many of the best characteristics of Iowans: he was outward looking, open minded, while also deeply loyal to the state. He was a modest person, ready always to facilitate the work of others before his own. He took people at face value, without preconceptions. That was one of his many virtues. He held his views with integrity and was a model of respect for those with whom he disagreed, a rare and valuable trait in academic departments.
Russ served the Iowa community in many capacities. He held the position of executive assistant to the governor from 1960 to 1962, gaining valuable firsthand experience in state government. He was also mayor of a village within Iowa City for a decade and a leading member of many state and community boards and organizations. Wherever he was needed, he jumped in. He served as president of the Iowa Historical Society and contributed frequently to the society's publications.
The Society published his monograph on the history of the department, Political Science at Iowa, 1859–1986. In 1957, he published a widely used textbook, The Government and Administration of Iowa, and his subsequent publications included articles on the Iowa court system, county government in Iowa, and the line item veto.
Russ was an innovative teacher throughout his career. In the 1970s, he was the first to teach in a new graduate program leading to a Master of Arts in public affairs. The program answered the department's long-felt need to have a program designed specifically to serve the state. Feeling the need was one thing. Doing something about it was Russ's way. Graduates of the program have subsequently had distinguished careers in state and municipal government, serving communities across the country. Many of them attribute their choice of career and their success in municipal administration to his inspirational teaching
Professor Ross had a generous attitude toward others and a rare institutional loyalty. His role in the department is irreplaceable. He is survived by his wife, Jo Ellen Rude Ross of Iowa City; his daughters Sherry (Thomas) Rembe of Seymour, Iowa, and Julie Ross Blum of Waukee, Iowa; four grandchildren and their spouses; and three great grandsons.
