California Apparel News

A funeral was held Nov. 16 for pioneering Los Angeles specialty retailer Ron Ross. He died in his home in Laguna Beach, Calif., after a short fight with cancer. He was 61.

Ross helped pioneer the concept of the jeans bar and offered an eclectic sense of merchandising, said his friends and family. He also helped bring Fred Segal–style specialty retailing to the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s.

Ross and his second wife, Patty Ross, opened his self-named boutique in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Tarzana in 1973, after he had worked as a manager for Fred Segal Melrose. The Tarzana shop initially offered what was then a revolutionary mix of jeans, suiting and sportswear. Later he added women’s fashions and made it a point to offer the styles of what then were promising, up-and-coming designers Calvin Klein and Yohji Yamamoto.

In 1993, he and his wife moved from their 1,500-square-foot boutique to a 15,000-square-foot Ron Ross store in the San Fernando neighborhood of Studio City. It offered fashions for men, women and kids; shoes, antiques and jewelry, as well as gifts and apothecary. He also ran a better men’s shop at Fred Segal Melrose during the 1980s. The novel merchandise mix was shaped by a talented, close-knit and loyal buying team assembled by Ross. Members of this team later became influential retailers running their own boutiques. Ron Ross buyers Scott Hill and Sammy Dinar opened their own self-named stores in the Los Angeles area. Another buyer, Shauna Stein, ran women’s boutiques Shauna Stein, On Beverly and, later, On Sunset from 1985 to 2008.

Stein said Ross was one of the best bosses she had. He made it a point to encourage buyers’ creativity and sense of style. “He knew how to pick people and allowed them to fly with their talents. He always let us do our own thing. That was rare,” Stein said.

Family life and a warm sense of humor were crucial to Ross’ day-to-day schedule,said Patty Ross. “He would cut buying trips short because he missed his kids so much,” she said.

After the Ron Ross store closed in 1998, he worked as a consultant and sold real estate. He is survived by his 93-year-old father, Allan Ross of Studio City, as well as his first wife, Maddy Wolpa of Tarzana, and his second wife, Patty Ross of Carmel, Calif. His eldest daughter, Allison Ross, lives in Studio City with her husband, Jason Chauncey, and is expecting her first child in December. Ron Ross also is survived by children Emily Ross ofBerkeley, Calif., and Jonathan Ross of Carmel.

Donations in Ron Ross’ name can be made to Beit T’shuvah (www.beittshuvahla.org) or The Wellness Community (www.thewellnesscommunity.org). —Andrew Asch