Thomas Rosslyn (Ross) Barnett

Thomas Rosslyn (Ross) Barnett, who lived on Texas Lane in Ithaca, NY, died peacefully at home on Monday, December 23, at the age of 95.

Ross was born on May 29, 1929, in Helston, Cornwall, England to Thomas Martin and Ethel Mary (Pooley) Barnett. He lived there with his twin siblings, Peter Maxwell (Max) and Margaret Stephanie (Stephanie), before leaving for London to study physics at Chelsea Polytechnic followed by a PhD at Royal Holloway College, part of the University of London.

It was there that he met his future wife, Mary Isaac, who was a physics undergrad. After graduation they married and moved north to Harrogate, in Yorkshire. Ross became a researcher at ICI and Mary worked as a pathology lab technician in the local hospital. Ross's work enhanced the efficiency of polyester production which helped return the company's US plants to economic viability, and he created two patents.

Harrogate is where their three children, Peter Thomas (1959), Susan Mary (1961), and Jennifer Elizabeth (1964), were born. In his spare time, Ross would often take the family to Brimham Rocks, a wild, ancient rocky area on the Yorkshire Moors, go-karting—which in those days required Mary to push start the engine!—skiing trips to Europe, and summer holidays in Cornwall. The family then moved west to Lancashire, where Ross got a new job teaching at Lancaster University and Mary worked part time as the librarian in the physics department library. Here they took advantage of the proximity of the Lake District, enjoying many happy walks up and down the fells.

Ross left academia in 1980 to found MIPAC Ltd., a computer and software systems company, with Mary helping manage customer relations and the tight cashflow of a start-up business. After retirement they moved back south to Chichester in West Sussex. Ross and Mary travelled extensively, including to Sri Lanka, Thailand, and New Zealand, as well as regular trips to Europe where Ross enjoyed the no-speed-limit rule on the German autobahns. (They also broke the sound barrier on a work trip on Concorde!) At home, he always loved going back to Cornwall, to visit Helston, take advantage of the surf, and run around on the sand dunes.

A keen downhill skier since the 1950s, Ross took yearly vacations to the Alps and skied until he was 80. When in his seventies, he went on a group skiing holiday with Pete and five of his friend —all in their twenties or thirties. He shocked them all when, after the first long downhill ski run, he beat them all to the bottom, asking, “How was it then?” when they arrived.

Ross and Mary were both classical music lovers and Ross had an extensive and meticulously curated record collection. They regularly attended concerts locally and went to the Met Opera in New York City on visits to their daughters. He loved to tell the story of how, when BBC radio changed the stylus on the record player they used for transmissions, he noticed a difference! Unfortunately, Parkinson's disease had begun to increasingly affect Mary and, after an extended visit to the US in 2011, during which Ross faced some new health issues, they decided to stay on a permanent basis. After Mary passed away in 2016, Ross stayed on in Ithaca. He spent his time listening to his music, watching old movies, and enjoying visits with his children and grandchildren. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of history which he loved to share, and he never lost his incredible memory for dates and events. In his later years, Ross was cared for by family members and much appreciated caregivers.

In addition to his children and their spouses (Mairi and Spencer), Ross is survived by seven grandchildren (Emily, Tommy, Annie, Jake, Rosie, Jamie, and Ruby), as well as his niece, Carol Fraser, and nephews Michael Jones, John Barnett, and Martin Barnett, and several other relatives.