Thomas B. Ross, 73, Author and Defense Spokesman -- Rest in Peace

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Subject: Thomas B. Ross, 73, Author and Defense Spokesman

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Long Island

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Date Posted: October 28, 2002 9:33:44 EDT

Thomas B. Ross, a journalist and best-selling author of books on military intelligence who later became the spokesman for the Pentagon in the Carter administration, died Thursday at Eastern Long Island Hospital. He was 73 and lived in Manhattan and Shelter Island Heights, N.Y.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, his family said.

In 1960, when Mr. Ross was the Washington bureau chief for The Chicago Sun-Times, a United States spy plane was shot down over Russian territory. At the time, government officials claimed it was a weather plane, but the Russian government later produced the pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Mr. Ross and David Wise investigated the incident and published "The U-2 Affair" in 1962.

The book was the first of three the two wrote together.

"The Invisible Government," which was published in 1964 and explained the role of intelligence agencies in diplomacy, was described by Orville Prescott in The New York Times as an "able and interesting work of topical reporting."

"No ordinary citizen could read this book without learning much that he never knew before," Mr. Prescott wrote. "Probably even well-informed members of the Soviet intelligence will find parts of it instructive."

The book was listed as a No. 1 nonfiction best seller in several newspapers. The New York Times, however, listed Ernest Hemingway's "Moveable Feast" in the top position, leaving Mr. Ross and Mr. Wise at No. 2 for 22 weeks, Mr. Wise said yesterday. "We were a bit disappointed," Mr. Wise said, "but I told him that if we had to be second to someone, Hemingway was it."

Mr. Ross and Mr. Wise further explored the international intelligence community in "The Espionage Establishment," published in 1967.

Mr. Ross worked for The Chicago Sun-Times for nearly two decades before leaving in 1977 to become the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, a position he held until 1981.

In 1981 Mr. Ross became communications director for the Celanese Corporation in New York City. He later became a senior vice president of RCA, NBC and the Hill & Knowlton public relations firm. At the time of his death, he was vice president for government relations of Loral Space and Communications.

Thomas Bernard Ross was born in New York City in 1929. He graduated from Yale University and served in the Navy during the Korean War.

Mr. Ross received a Neiman Fellowship at Harvard University and a Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

He is survived by his wife, Gunilla, and his daughters, Anne Ross of Manhattan and Kristina Ross of Albuquerque.

Mr. Ross never lost his love for travel, Anne Ross said.

The two flew to China together in 1997, leading Mr. Ross to recall his trip there in 1972 while covering the Nixon administration.

"He went then and brought us back Communist candy to sell at our lemonade stand," she said. "He remembered so much that was different. But we still did buy our Communist candy."

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