Ian Simpson Ross (9 August 1930 – 21 May 2015) was a Scottish academic and biographer of Adam Smith.Alisdair Steven, �
Obituary: Professor Ian Ross, academic
��, ''The Scotsman'' (6 June 2015). Retrieved 4 October 2020.Harry McGrath, �
Ian Simpson Ross
��, ''The Herald'' (2 June 2015). Retrieved 4 October 2020. He was born in Dundee. His father worked in the

jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...

industry and his mother was employed in service. He was educated at Blackness Primary School and was awarded a bursary to Harris Academy. In 1950 he went to the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

to read

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

after being awarded a state grant. He was awarded a first class honours degree in 1954.Margaret Schabas, �
Obituary of Ian Simpson Ross
��, Adam Smith Society. Retrieved 4 October 2020. He was granted a Tyndall-Bruce Scholarship at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...

, where he studied the Scottish poets at

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

's court under the supervision of David Nichol Smith. He was awarded a BLitt in 1956. He won a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he read his PhD. Under the supervision of Ernest Campbell Mossner, Ross focused on important members of the

Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...

, and was awarded his PhD in 1960. He was appointed Instructor at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, where he taught eighteenth-century literature. In 1982 he became head of the English department and in 1993 he was appointed Professor Emeritus of English. He was also elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada. His first book was a biography of

Lord Kames Henry Home, Lord Kames (169627 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher, advocate, judge, and agricultural improver. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, and ac ...

, which was published in 1972, and he also penned a study of

William Dunbar William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460 – died by 1530) was a Scottish makar, or court poet, active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in ...

(1981). His 1995 biography of Adam Smith was the first full-scale biography since John Rae's 1895 work. It was well received and the second edition was published in 2010. Gavin Kennedy said "Ian was the doyen among Adam Smith's modern scholarly biographers. His biography will never be surpassed." In his review, William D. Grampp said Ross' "scholarship is a thing of wonder."William D. Grampp, ‘Review The Life of Adam Smith by Ian Simpson Ross’, ''Southern Economic Journal'', Vol. 63, No. 2 (Oct., 1996), p. 540. He visited Scotland during the 2014 independence referendum and was a supporter of Scottish independence. In 2015 he died in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, aged 84, and was survived by his wife and their five children.

Works

*''Lord Kames and the Scotland of His Day'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). *(editor with E. C. Mossner), Adam Smith, ''The Correspondence of Adam Smith'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977; second edition, 1987). , *(editor with W. P. D. Wightman and J. C. Bryce), Adam Smith, ''Essays on Philosophical Subjects'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980). *''William Dunbar'' (Leiden: Brill, 1981). *''The Life of Adam Smith'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995; second edition, 2010). , *(editor), ''On the Wealth of Nations: Contemporary Responses to Adam Smith'' (Bristol: Theommes Press, 1998).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Ian Simpson 1930 births 2015 deaths People from Dundee People educated at Harris Academy Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Scottish scholars and academics