Michael Ross (born Isadore Rovinsky) (August 4, 1919 – May 26, 2009) was an American screenwriter and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

. Ross, together with writing partners

Don Nicholl Donald Nicholl (August 9, 1925 – July 5, 1980) was an English-American screenwriter and producer. His production company Nicholl Ross West (with Mickey Ross and Bernie West) wrote for the situation comedies ''All in the Family'', ''The Jeffe ...

and Bernard West, were writers/producers for ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'' (for which Ross won the 1973 Emmy Award for Writing for a Comedy Series), ''

The Jeffersons ''The Jeffersons'' is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. ''The Jeffersons'' is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history, ...

'', '' The Dumplings'', and ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom '' Man About the House''. The story revolves around three single room ...

''. Ross and West continued as executive producers of ''Three's Company'' after the death of partner Nicholl in 1980, also producing the spin-off shows ''

The Ropers ''The Ropers'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 22, 1980. It is a spin-off of ''Three's Company'' and loosely based on the British sitcom ''George and Mildred'', which was itself a spin-off of ...

'' and ''

Three's a Crowd ''Three's a Crowd'' (also known as ''Three's Company, Too'' in the ''Three's Company'' syndication package) is an American sitcom television series produced as a spin-off continuation of ''Three's Company'' that aired on ABC from September 25 ...

''.

Biography

Born and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Ross graduated from City College of New York City in 1939. Ross then served as a bomber pilot in

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during World War II. Ross, along with longtime business partner Bernie West, made his mark in the 1970s with the breakout TV situation comedy, “All in the Family,” for which he won a writing Emmy in 1973. Ross first worked with Norman Lear in the 1950s, when Lear was the producer of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's short-lived (26 episodes)

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

''The Martha Raye Show''. After writing for Lear's ''All in the Family'', Ross went on to scribe and serve as executive producer for the spin-off ''

''. Ross later established the Michael and Irene Ross Chair in Hebrew and Yiddish and the Michael and Irene Ross Program in Jewish Studies at the City University of New York in

. Ross also made a $3 million bequest and 25% share of his rights to all his shows to the

National Yiddish Book Center The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, a ...

. Ross died May 26, 2009, due to complications following a stroke and

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

.Nelson, Valerie J. (May 30, 2009)
Michael Ross dies at 89; TV writer-producer endowed Jewish studies programs.
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''''TV writer/producer Michael Ross dies; Worked on "All in the Family", "Jeffersons"'', by Andrew Stewart, Film Reporter @Variety_Stewart for Variety.com, MAY 28, 2009.
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References

External links

* American male screenwriters American television producers Emmy Award winners 1919 births 2009 deaths Jewish American screenwriters 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews {{US-screen-writer-stub