22 August 1947 to 11 September 2025
Ross met his wife Paula when he was 18 and she was 15 years old, when he moved next door. They developed a strong friendship playing tennis and board games. After dating for 6 years, they married in 1972, and welcomed two children, Tamara and Mark. Early evidence of entrepreneurial spirit was exhibited by a succession of fruitful real estate deals.
After graduating in geology and metallurgy from the University of Queensland in the late 1960s, his career began in the early 1970s as a wellsite geologist for Mines Administration Pty Ltd and then with Marathon Petroleum Pty Ltd in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.