On behalf of the Columbia Community Foundation and its Board of Directors we want to thank Dennis Ross for his 18 years of service. Dennis, one of the inaugural board members when the Foundation was founded in October of 2007 served as our Grant Committee Co-Chairman.

The Ross family moved to Columbia Township when Dennis was 4 years old along with his brother Bill and sister Mary Anne. Little did Dennis know the impact he would have on Columbia Township over the next 75 years. Dennis attended Columbia Local Schools graduating in 1964. A retired schoolteacher, owner of Ross Equipment, a supplier of tractor and farming equipment parts, Dennis is a gentleman farmer owning and renting hundreds of acres to bale and sell hay to local horse and beef farmers in Columbia. Dennis also has a passion to attend equipment auctions, always looking for that unique piece of equipment that he didn’t already have.

Despite his daily hectic schedule Dennis continues to volunteer his time to the Friends of the Library and Historical Society, the Zoning Board, and was a former Board of Education director for Columbia Local Schools.
Dennis is the official greeter at the Columbia Community Foundation’s Annual Fall Gala dressed in his traditional black tuxedo and Stetson cowboy hat. And at the conclusion of our Live Auction event, it has been customary that Dennis will auction off that Stetson that has resulted in thousands of dollars raised for the Foundation every year.

Thank you, Dennis, for all you have done and will continue to do for Columbia Township.