After leaving his native Long Island for Albany, Ross committed himself to take advantage of a wide range of experiences and opportunities the university offered. He quickly gravitated to the social sciences and took courses in political science and modern history. He developed a keen interest in strategic and tactical planning through courses on World Wars I and II and Vietnam. Taking a course in logic further developed his focus on strategic and critical thinking. He recalled his introduction to Boolean logic, an important component of today's internet search engines, a skill that would later serve him well in his professional
life.

The flexibility of opportunities beyond the college also helped round Ross' education. He recalled the practical applications generated through courses in economics and accounting he uses as a corporate partner in one of the country's
prominent law firms.

"My education at Albany made me intellectually ambitious and gave me the confidence to succeed.''

Not all of his time was spent in the classroom or library. He served as a legislative intern in Albany with his state senator Karen Burstein.

He was also a member of the University Judo Club, competed in tournaments and achieved a brown belt in his junior year. " Unfortunately, I sustained a judo injury that prevented me from graduating in 3 ½ years as planned,'" he explained. As an upperclassman, Ross had given serious thought to graduate school and enrolling in an MA/JD in international relations.

In the end, Ross pursued law school. He was the first UAlbany alumnus to enter Stanford Law School. While at Stanford he was involved with others in the formation of a public interest law foundation, which is still active today, and served as its president during his last year at Stanford.

He began his legal career by joining a New York venture capital law firm. In 1985 he moved to Loeb & Loeb in New York, where his expertise has been tapped during the past 24 years in a variety of areas including venture capital, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment and media deals, and management buy outs.

In recent years his focus has been on the internet and other technology fields and the marketing communications field, representing many company buyers and sellers, and also serving as outside general counsel.

One of his most recent interests is in health care where he serves his client as an advisor in the electronic medical records systems field. Ross expressed mock surprise as he explained, "It is astounding that there is no single accepted methodology for electronic medical record keeping."

Ross serves as Co-chair of the Corporate practice and Chair of the Mergers & Acquisitions practice at Loeb & Loeb.

Ross is equally proud of his work with the not-for-profit organization Let's Get Ready, a New York-based organization that serves motivated high school students from economically needy households who are interested in attending college. Ross began his service to Let's Get Ready by providing pro bono legal services to it in 2001. He joined its board of directors in 2004 and has served as its chair for the last several years. Let's Get Ready uses volunteer college students to provide a free comprehensive array of services and programs to its student clients including SAT test preparation, assistance with the college application process, financial aid counseling, and interview skills training.

"Involvement in public service and the true availability of affordable education were important beliefs that were part of my Albany experience", he stated. "Let's Get Ready identifies ambitious high school students and fosters their potential to achieve. The organization grooms many students as leaders and mentors for others who follow in their footsteps. These bright young men and women normally represent the first in their families to go to college and the percentage of those who succeed in some of our nation's leading institutions is significant."