College Mourns Deaths of Gerri LeBow, George M. Ross ’55
Drexel University LeBow College of Business Dean George P. Tsetsekos, Ph.D., today expressed his sadness on behalf of the school’s faculty, students, staff and alumni, upon the death of George Ross, a 1955 graduate of the college and leading Philadelphia philanthropist.
“All of us at the college, throughout Drexel University and across Philadelphia have been touched deeply by George and his commitment to civic and business leadership,” Tsetsekos said. “Our thoughts are with his relatives and friends as we and they mourn the loss of a dynamic and energetic leader.”
In 1954, as a Drexel undergraduate, Ross created Business Days, a week-long series of activities and events showcasing the many facets of the College of Business out of which grew the Business Leader of the Year award, which has become one of the most recognizable and coveted honors in the Greater Philadelphia region. Winners have included Edward R. Murrow, Henry Luce, Ed Rendell and Tom Ridge. Ross himself was named the 35th Business Leader of the Year in 1989. Every year, the Business Leader of the Year award is presented to a deserving and esteemed business leader at a luncheon, and the proceeds from the event are used to fund student scholarships and support the educational mission of LeBow College of Business. The most recent winners were Jeffrey and Christina Lurie, owners of the Philadelphia Eagles.
“The impact of George Ross on the development of LeBow College of Business and its contribution to business community has been enormous,” Tsetsekos said. “As his fellow student Daniel Promislo said in his eulogy of Mr. Ross, ’George always understood that he and the College entered into a partnership: the College would provide George an outstanding business education and George would change the College.” And George Ross did exactly this. In his honor, Tsetsekos has created the George Ross Leadership Award to be given each year to an undergraduate who exhibits the innovative, imaginative and creative energy that Mr. Ross embodied.
Obituaries: The New York Times
