Donald E. Ross (academic administrator)

Donald E. Ross is the President Emeritus at Lynn University. He is also the founder and former president of Wilmington University. He served as president of Lynn University for 35 years and turned Lynn University, once a nearly bankrupt two-year Catholic school for women, into a thriving four-year liberal arts college. In 2003–2004, he was paid a salary of over $5,000,000, making him at the time the highest-paid college or university president in the nation. His son Kevin M. Ross succeeded him in office as the president of Lynn University.

Education
He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the New York Institute of Technology.

Career
Dr. Donald E. Ross founded Wilmington University and served as the institution's president until 1977.

Donald E. Ross visited the campus of Lynn University to purchase the library of Lynn University, then known as Marymount College and struggling financially. Ross was so inspired by the school that he decided to stay and help it succeed. In 1971, Donald E. Ross was named president of Lynn University.

In 2003–2004, Donald E. Ross was paid a salary of over $5,000,000, making him at the time the highest-paid college or university president in the United States. Donald E. Ross served as president of Lynn University for 35 years and turned Lynn University, which was once a nearly bankrupt two-year Catholic school for women, into a thriving four-year liberal arts college. He retired as president of Lynn University in 2006. He is currently the President Emeritus at Lynn University.

Recognition
He was inducted into the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame in 2009 for creating varsity athletics program at Lynn University and being the guiding force behind Lynn’s becoming member of SSC in 1997.

Personal life
He has a son named Kevin M. Ross who succeeded him in office as the president of Lynn University in 2006.