College Mourns Deaths of Gerri LeBow, George M. Ross ’55

Drexel University LeBow College of Business Dean George P. Tsetsekos, Ph.D., has expressed his sadness on behalf of the school’s faculty, students, staff and alumni, upon the recent deaths of two of the College’s greatest benefactors: Gerri LeBow, wife of Bennett S. LeBow; and George Ross, a 1955 graduate of the College.

“All of us at the college have been touched deeply by the generosity of these two philanthropists,” Tsetsekos says. “Our thoughts are with the Ross and LeBow families during this difficult time.”

Mrs. LeBow was a native Philadelphian and graduate of Overbrook High School. She served as secretary of the Bennett S. and Geraldine C. LeBow Foundation. As a leading Miami, Fla., philanthropist, Mrs. LeBow was a major benefactor and board member of the Miami City Ballet and of the Adrienne Arsht Center.

In 1954, as a Drexel undergraduate, Ross created Business Days, a week-long series of activities and events showcasing the many facets of the College of Business out of which grew the Business Leader of the Year award, which has become one of the most recognizable and coveted honors in the Greater Philadelphia region.  

“The impact of George Ross on the development of LeBow College of Business and its contribution to business community has been enormous,” Tsetsekos says. “As his fellow student Daniel Promislo said in his eulogy of Mr. Ross, ‘George always understood that he and the College entered into a partnership: the College would provide George an outstanding business education and George would change the College.”

And George Ross did exactly this. In his honor, Tsetsekos has created the George Ross Leadership Award to be given each year to an undergraduate who exhibits the innovative, imaginative and creative energy that Mr. Ross embodied.

Obituaries for Mr. Ross:

The New York Times

The Philadelphia Inquirer