Ian Ross began teaching at the University of British Columbia in 1960 and was Head of the English Department from 1982 to 1987, retiring in 1992. Ian passed away peacefully in his home in Vancouver on May 21, 2015, a week after being discharged from a lengthy stay in hospital.

Born in Dundee, Scotland, on August 9, 1930, Ian grew up during the Depression and World War II in a working class family. After national service in the RAF between 1948 and 1950, he proceeded on scholarships to the Universities of St Andrews, Oxford and Texas. After graduating from Texas, Ian moved with his family to Canada, having been offered an instructorship at UBC.

During his 27 years at the university, in addition to serving as the English Department head, Ian was a member of the UBC Senate from 1969 to 1975 and President of the Faculty Association from 1974 to 1975. In 1988 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Arts One program at UBC, which proposed a less fragmented view of education for the university’s first year students. Arts One was originally established as a three-year pilot project, but was so successful that it remains to this day as a small cohort learning through an integrated inter-disciplinary curriculum.

Ian authored many books, and was internationally renowned for The Life of Adam Smith, a definitive biography praised for revealing the depth and humanity of the great Scottish philosopher’s work. He also co-edited, with E. C. Mossner, Adam Smith’s Correspondence and published many articles on aspects of the Scottish Enlightenment, eighteenth-century English literature, and American literature. In 1986, he was founding President of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society. He was Visiting Professor in Canada (SFU), Germany and Japan. While pursuing a distinguished academic career, Ian wrote poetry, composed and sang songs, enjoyed traveling, and participated in Scottish cultural events, such as Robert Burns celebrations and Scottish country dancing.

Ian was kind and gentle. He was a true son of the Enlightenment and citizen of the world, who had many friends from Germany to Japan. His love, loyalty and wisdom will be greatly missed by his family and his many friends and colleagues.

The Ian S and Ingrid Ross Bursary for Mature Students has been established at UBC by family, friends, colleagues and his loving wife, Ingrid Ross, to honour his extraordinary academic legacies.

Your donation will pay fitting tribute to Ian’s memory by assisting mature students with demonstrated financial need in the Faculty of Arts.