Ross Andrew Gagliano was born July 3, 1938 in Birmingham, AL. He was named Ross after his paternal grandfather, whose name was Rosario. Ross—a “child of the Great Depression” as his wife, “Dorothy Margaret,” referred to him—was also known growing up as “Little Ross,” after his Poppa, and “Goose,” for “Goose” Tatum of the Harlem Globetrotters. He attended Birmingham’s John Herbert Phillips High School, graduating in 1956. Receiving an appointment to West Point, he graduated in upper portion of his class in 1960, serving as brigade sergeant major his firstie year. Well respected and universally liked by his classmates, he was known as “Garp,” singing in Cadet Glee Club and anchoring the Cadet Basketball Team as its center. He once held the Academy’s single-game record for rebounds (22, against Coast Guard Academy). With roommates Jim Lincoln and Ernie Remus, he enjoyed playing piano and listening to songs by vocal quartet known as “The Four Freshmen.”
Commissioned as a U.S. Army officer and branched into the Signal Corps, he met the love of his life, Dorothy, while stationed in Fontenet, France, where her father, Francis J. Petry, a World War II and Korean Conflict combat veteran, was stationed. They were married in the French city of Poitiers on April 27, 1963. Ross then spent the balance of his 11-year military career securing a master’s degree at the Naval Post Graduate School at Fort Ord, CA (where James and Lisa were born), serving a combat tour in Vietnam between 1966-67, and closing out his Army chapter while posted to West Point as a professor of Mathematics (where Jonathan was born). In the summer of 1971, as a new civilian, he piled his family into a station wagon and headed south.
The family settled in Decatur, GA, which served as his family’s home base for 48 years and where he and Dorothy raised three children while he earned a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, concurrently conducting research and teaching for 15 years. In 1985, he made the difficult decision to transition to Georgia State University (GSU), helping “birth” its fledgling Computer Science Department, which some, he recalled, thought was a “passing fad.” He retired from GSU in 2000, devoting himself to his wife and quest to chronicle his beloved father’s life and times. Several years of research and writing, a labor of love, led him to self-publishing “A Symmetry of Spirit,” a devotional to his Sicilian heritage and familial roots, viewed through the eyes of his father, Sam, a figure he revered and described as “an ordinary man who did some extraordinary things.” His Dad, known as “Professor” to legions of Alabama piano students and marching band members, also proudly served as assistant director of the 140th Army band of the Alabama National Guard.
Ross’s Roman Catholic faith was very important to him and his wife (a convert). They were guided and instructed by faith and longtime members of Saints Peter and Paul R.C. Church and St. Thomas More R.C. Church, both located in Decatur. Faith sustained him through Dorothy’s difficult health journey following a breast cancer diagnosis in 1998. Her brief recovery and rebound were God’s blessing. But the difficult and unexpected sudden loss of his wife in 2013 didn’t result in a wavering of faith. His trust in God unshakable. Ross will forever be known as a committed patriot, passionate Catholic, defender of the American values he cherished, and fierce protector of his brood. Whether you knew him well or you met him by happenstance, he would give you the shirt off his back. His epitaph is simple: He was a damn good man.
Ross was predeceased by his parents, Saverio (Sam) and Lucy (Musso) Gagliano, and his loving and devoted wife, Dorothy Ann (Petry) Gagliano, who shared 50 wonderful years with him, departing nine years and 20 days ahead of him. Their deep and abiding love for one another and for their Lord Jesus Christ ensures they are reunited in Heaven. He was also predeceased by his sister Lucy Elizabeth (Gagliano) Haynes and his son-in-law from Memphis, TN, Mark Alan Ricketts, who, in November 2022, lost a brief, heroic battle with ALS in Parker, TX.
An older brother to three siblings, Ross is survived by Carl Samuel (“Sticks”) and Virginia (Durden) Gagliano of Auburn, AL; by Sam Emidio Jr. (“Little Star”) and Judy (Ross) Gagliano of Birmingham, and by brother-in-law Ronald “Ronnie” Haynes of Mobile, AL. His other “little sister” and beloved wife’s sibling, Susan (Petry) Ray, resides in Newborn, GA. Ross is also survived by three children who loved him desperately: James Andrew (USMA 1987) and wife Tiffany Nicole (Reis) Gagliano of Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY; Lisa (Gagliano) Ricketts of Parker; and Jonathan Ross and wife Wendy Lynne (McCay) Gagliano, also of Birmingham.
Poppa dearly loved and doted on his 11 grandchildren (in birth order): Kristen Leigh Brinkley (husband John), U.S. Army Major Zachary Ross (USMA 2013) and his wife, First Lieutenant Mary (Thompson) Ricketts, Anthony James Gagliano and wife Brianna (Cazorla), Dr. Erin Ann Ricketts, DVM, Alexandra Leigh (Gagliano) Arduino and husband Kevin, Christopher Jason Park, James (Jae) Samuel and wife Katelyn Nicole (Klug) Ricketts, Jenna Blake Park, Claire Ellen Ricketts, Kaitlin Ann Gagliano, and Avery Anna-Elizabeth Martin. His legacy includes God’s blessing of 16 great-grandchildren.
— James A. Gagliano ’87, Son