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Millionaire Columnist Gives Away Dollars and Sense
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11643 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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9 / 1986 |
3,834 Words |
| Author
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Ronda Miller
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When he was six years old, little Percy Ross watched his father punch a hole in the lid of one of his mother's mason jars. Jars were dear and necessary for storing preserves during the cold, lean winters the family spent in the small copper mining town of Calumet, Michigan.
But the jar held in his father's work-worn hands was special. It was going to be a bank for the boy. Percy made good use of the container. Earning pennies at small jobs, he soon held a jar filled with $10.50 in shiny copper pennies. It was a heady experience for the six-year-old boy.
But the year was 1922 and his family was poor. With grim resolve he told himself, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a millionaire." And then he gently, lovingly handed the heavy jar to his parents. The money helped buy food for the family that winter.
Today, Percy Ross is an internationally known millionaire and columnist. And he is still giving his money away. His dual childhood dream of amassing a fortune in order to help the needy became today's reality only after years of hard work and heartbreak.
"He who gives while he lives...also knows where it goes" is the Ross maxim. His trademark is the silver dollar, which he happily distributes by the handful (up to 100,000 each year) to people he meets on the street.
Percy Ross is internationally known for his humanitarian and philanthropic works. His favorite pastime is helping others - the disadvantaged, the poor, the very young, and the very old. Retired from business ventures on which his huge fortune rests. Ross today pursues a full-time occupation as a millionaire columnist who is hell-bent on giving his hard earned money away. He quietly affirms, "I consider this a labor of love."
Percy Ross is not your typical millionaire. He likes to eat at the local Burger King and slurp on soft cones at the Dairy Queen. He takes the time to visit local schoolchildren, teaching the values of good manners, the importance of keeping your word, and looking a person straight in the eye when you speak to him. Percy Ross believes that the three most important words are still "please" and "thank you."
In an era filled with the "crashing cymbals" of philanthropic celebrities, Percy Ross is a quiet contrast in dignity, bone-deep compassion, and a lifelong commitment to help the less fortunate.
In a time when position, power, and money seem to absolve the more fortunate from the dictates of common courtesy, Percy Ross is a gentleman truly a gentle man. He is a dapper. Silver-haired man of seventy years ho remains a stickler for proper decorum. He is soft-spoken. In conversation he is gracious and engaging. He is a kind man and gently draws the attention away from himself to ask his admiring visitor about her dreams and the ages of her children.
Percy Ross believes in the traditional American ethics of hard work, honor, and honesty. He is interested in giving deserving people a hand up, not a handout. He is a strict observer of the Golden Rule, and believes that caring for one's fellowman belongs in the private sector, not the public
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