John Ross, painter, printmaker, author, and educator, was born in New York City on September 25, 1921. He studied at Cooper Union School of Art in New York from 1939 to 1948 with Morris Kantor and Will Barnet, and received his Bachelor in Fine Arts degree. He attended Parson School of Design in New York in 1939, and, in 1949 Ross studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France. He returned to New York in 1950, where he furthered his art studies at the New School for Social Research under Antonio Frasconi and Louis Schanker, and at Columbia University.

In 1964 Ross took a position as Professor of studio art at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, where he remained until 1986. He designed the BFA program and served as chair of the art department from 1966 to 1972. He also taught printmaking at the New School University in New York City for over fifty years, and produced nineteen artist's books which were published by The High Tide Press, as well as The Complete Collagraph (1980), The Complete Screen Print and Lithograph (1974), The Complete Relief Print (1974), The Complete New Techniques in Printmaking (1974) The Complete Intaglio Print (1974). Ross also co-authored with his wife, Clare Romano, The Complete Printmaker (1972).

Ross was a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists and served as president of the organization. He was also elected Academician in the National Academy of Design in 1983. He received numerous accolades for his work, which included the Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant for Printmaking in 1954; MacDowell Colony Fellowships in 1977, 1976, 1978, 1982, and 1987; the National Arts Club Printmaking Award in 1995, the Shatalov Prize from the National Academy of Design in 2001; and the Society of American Graphic Artists Award in 2005.

Over sixty one-man shows are included in Ross's repertoire. His works are included in the permanent collections of the Boston Public Library, Cincinnati Art Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum, Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morris Museum, National Academy of Design, New Jersey State Museum, New York Public Library, Newark Museum, Newark Public Library, Oklahoma Arts Institute, Philadelphia Public Library, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art, and in many university and college collections.

John Ross died at his home on November 29, 2017.