Craig Gibbs Ross, Jr

Craig Gibbs Ross, Jr. loving husband, father, grandfather and friend – passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family in Tarpon Springs, FL on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.

Craig was born to Craig G. and Helen (Wright) Ross in Annapolis, MD on January 15, 1946.  He graduated from Holston High School, Knoxville, TN in 1963 before graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1968 with a BS in Electrical Engineering.  Craig met his bride, Suzanne, at the University of Tennessee at a sailing club meeting.  Later he earned a Masters in Engineering from the University of South Florida. Craig and Suzanne married on September 28, 1968.  They later welcomed two children Matthew and Jennifer.

He served in the United States Coast Guard as a Lieutenant at the Washington, D.C. Headquarters, where he worked on automating aids to navigation systems and automating lighthouses. 

Craig had a varied career portfolio including Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. where he worked on the navigation systems for the Polaris submarines; he held positions at ECI/E-Systems as a design engineer with the Peripheral Equipment Group; Coinco designing vending machine coin handling apparatus and Square D as a design engineer.  In the late 1980’s Craig joined Honeywell where he spent the last 20+ years of his career as a design engineer working on space systems.  He also held two patents.

He loved sailing, the Smoky Mountains, Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, tinkering with anything electronics, raspberry pi, Arduino projects, 3D printers and wood working.  He volunteered as a mentor at the Palm Harbor High School Robotics Club.  He was a voracious reader on any topic.  He was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Nicholas Gibbs Historical Society and IEEE. But at the top of his list were his grandchildren.  They were his world.

Craig is survived by his wife, Suzanne; their children Matthew and Jennifer (Jaime) Arrieta, six grandchildren, Clayton, Aubrey, Johnston, Jefferson, Ava and Lillian; his brother, William Ben (Shari) Ross, and several nephews and several cousins.  He was preceded in death by his parents.

A visitation will be held from 11:00 to 12:00, on Tuesday, September 27th, at the First United Methodist Church, 501 East Tarpon Avenue, Tarpon Springs. Following the visitation, a graveside service will be held at 1:00, also on Tuesday, September 27th, at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, Clearwater. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite charity.

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