Bob Ross

Birth Name:

Robert Norman Ross

Birth Date:

October 29, 1942

Birth Place:

Daytona Beach, Florida

Death Date:

July 4, 1995

Place of Death:

4229 Greenfern Drive, Orlando, Florida

Age:

Cause of Death:

Complications from lymphoma

Cemetery Name:

Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home

Claim to Fame:

Artists

Bob Ross, with his distinctive hair style and quiet demeanor, was a popular American painter, art instructor, and television host. The painter who gave us “happy little trees” was the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, an instructional television program that aired from 1983 to 1994 on PBS in the United States, CBC in Canada, and similar channels in Latin America, and Europe. The show consisted of more than 400 episodes, was as meditative as it was instructive. Ross was a force of pure positivity in a world without a lot of it. Never a picture of health, Bob died at the young age of 52 due to complications from lymphoma caused by long-term smoking and the effects of toxic paint fumes and cleaners.

Fun Facts

So, who profits if you plunk down money on Bob Ross merchandise, be it paint supplies, Bob Ross brushes, Bob Ross underwear, Bob Ross coffee mugs, Bob Ross energy drinks, Bob Ross watches, and Bob Ross toasters, Bob Ross Chia Pet or kitschy items like cupcake wrappers? That would be Bob Ross Inc., a corporate entity that has no connections with (or obligations to) Ross’ surviving son, Steve. The company is wholly owned, controlled and ruthlessly owns not only Bob Ross’ name, image, likeness and all merchandising licenses – they also own thousands of Bob Ross original paintings that will likely never see the light of day.

The makers of the documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayals and Greed, claim that Ross’s legacy was co-opted for profit by his business partners, Walt and Annette Kowalski. According to Ross’ surviving friends and family, the Kowalskis helped make Ross a cultural icon with his long-running PBS series, The Joy of Painting. And then they ruthlessly went about securing legal rights to his name, image and reputation, especially when it became clear that Ross was terminally ill. They even tried to keep Ross’ funeral a secret.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home

400 Woodlawn Cemetery Road

Gotha, Florida, 34734

USA

North America

Grave Location:

Section O, Lot 537, Grave 1

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery drive past the first intersection until you come to a fork in the road. Turn left then when the road ends take another left. Drive 100 feet and take the first right then right again and stop about 200 feet along the curved road. Look to you left for the upright marble colonnade with statues of young Jesus confounding the temple priests among 4 pillars, then look three rows from the road near the large tree for Bob Ross’s simple flat monument to the left of the marble colonnade in the distance.