Patrick “Pat” Ross, a former president of the B.F. Goodrich Co. and chairman and CEO of Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Co., has died. He was 94.
According to his obituary, Ross was born in Michigan though his family moved to Southern California at the start of World War II. During the war, his parents worked in San Diego building military aircraft, and in 1944 the family moved to Ann Arbor, Mich. Pat graduated from high school in 1947 and earned his degree in speech from the University of Michigan.
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and “was chosen for the Chinese Language School at Yale University for the purpose of monitoring Chinese radio transmissions.” The Korean conflict was underway. Ross was honorably discharged in 1955.
In 1952 he married his high school sweetheart in Connecticut and the young family returned to Ann Arbor after he was discharged from the Air Force. He joined WWJ Radio-TV in Detroit and worked on Ralph Edwards’ show, “This Is Your Life.”
His entry to the tire industry came in 1962, when he took a job with the B.F. Goodrich Co. in Akron, Ohio. He became president of the company’s international division and moved to Europe in 1965 before returning to Akron three years later. He then attended Harvard University’s executive management program and was promoted to president of the tire company. He was in that role in 1986 when B.F. Goodrich merged with Uniroyal to become the second-largest tire company in the U.S. With the merger, he was named chairman and CEO. (Uniroyal-Goodrich was acquired by Michelin Group in 1990.)
While Ross was at B.F. Goodrich the tiremaker introduced the Advantage T/A, and in the 1970s the company began sponsoring racing teams using its T/A tires. The company also introduced what his obituary refers to as “the hugely successful advertising campaign” for “The Goodrich Blimp.”
“Another marketing first was sponsoring the 30-minute pre-game show for the early Super Bowls,” — at a cost of $100,000.
Ross retired in 1988.
He is survived by a son, Stewart (Sandra) of Punta Gorda, Fla., and daughter, Nancy Ross of Akron, Ohio, as well as five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
