A Message For You
Ross Willows was born on January 5th, 1945 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and grew up with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Ross Willows, and his sister Judy, in Winnipeg. He died with Carol and Thomas by his side in Old Chatham, New York, his home of 25 years.
He found his soul’s home in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he went to art school and forged his identity as a visual artist, he was an editor and then became a camera man at the Canadian Broadcasting Company, work that became one of the pillars of his identity. In that role he became an international rover – embracing people, culture, music, and food as he discovered swaths of Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Ross was a vital force and a cherished colleague at Art Omi In Ghent New York for over thirty years. Since its inception, he captured artists and their work aon film nd worked alongside visual artists, musicians, dancers, writers and translators from every continent. It meant everything to him and was one of his abiding loves.
Intellectual curiosity was one of Ross’s defining characteristics. Every day of his life he watched, read, searched and learned something new that excited him. Most essentially, he was an artist. Few days passed with out shooting, drawing, designing, none without imagining.
His kindness was legion. A noted raconteur, and expert in fun, when he entered a room spirits were lifted and a very good time. was promised.
Ross’s absence remains a painful loss and his memory a blessing for his wife, Carol Frederick, his son, Thomas Scott and family Laura and Easton, nephew Lee Repko, Willow and Ruby Repko and all the members of his Greenburger family; Francis and Isabelle, nephews Morgan, Noah and his wife Noa, nieces Julia and Claire, and Michael, Annabelle and Wiley.
His special spirit will remain, too, in the memory so many colleagues over the years at Art Omi and the hundreds of artists and friends around the world who appreciated him so deeply.
This message for you is from Bob Marley, but also from Ross. He really did, always, believe that everything would be alright.