John David Ross, a member of the Bridgehampton Fire Department for his entire adult life, died on April 2 in Ephrata, Pa., where he had been living with his eldest daughter, Deborah Ross. He was 88 and in declining health.
Known as Dave, he made a career in the plumbing and heating field working for Cameron Plumbing and Heating in Southampton. He liked woodworking and building and “had the Midas touch,” his family wrote. “He could build, repair, or fix anything.”
He golfed often at the Bridgehampton Golf Course and at Goat Hill on Shelter Island. “He always enjoyed a good joke and making people laugh,” his family said.
Mr. Ross was born at home in East Hampton on June 19, 1935, to Kenneth Ross and the former Doris Geisler. He grew up in Sag Harbor at the house at Mashashimuet Park and went to school in Sag Harbor before serving for four years in the Navy.
He settled on Wainscott Harbor Road in Sagaponack, and lived there until moving to Pennsylvania recently.
“Dave’s ashes will be returned to his beloved South Fork for a small remembrance service at a later date,” Ms. Ross said.
Mr. Ross was married briefly and had two daughters, both of whom survive. His younger one, Lynelle Ross, lives in Dallas. He is also survived by six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and “his very much loved cousin,” Joyce Lyon Shields of Sagaponack.
Four siblings, Elizabeth Ross McAree, Nancy Ross Niles, Richard Ross, and Peter Ross, died before him.
