H.R. Ross, who was born with one
hand, was a wallpaper hanger for 11
years. (Family Photo)
H. R. Ross
By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
H.R. Ross, 75, a Northern Virginia commercial real estate developer who died Dec. 26, was born
without a right hand. He called himself Knobby. "He wanted to put people at ease," said his wife
and business partner, Carol Ann Ross. She said the nickname originated during a boyhood
basketball game  when an opponent he was guarding said with a snarl, "You touch me with that  
 knob again, and I'll kill you."  The young Mr. Ross redeemed the cruel epithet. From that day
forward, he was no longer Henry Roger; he was Knobby.
Mr. Ross, a Falls Church resident, died of coronary artery disease at Virginia Hospital Center in
Arlington County.
He was born in the District but was orphaned at a young age, and he grew up in a foster home in
Georgetown. When his foster mother died, he dropped out of  Western High School and
wangled a job with Winslow Paint Co. A trade union rejected him because of his "handicap," so
he taught himself to be a wallpaper hanger -- a one-handed wallpaper hanger who proudly
noted the many hotels in Northern Virginia and homes and commercial buildings in the
Washington area that bore evidence of his expertise.
During his 11 years in the paper-hanging business, he developed his own way of doing things --
using a single-edged razor instead of scissors, for example. "It was his way of saying, 'I'll show
you,"  his wife said.
Growing up around Georgetown's historic architecture and getting to know a number of builders through his business, he decided in the
early 1960s that he wanted to go into commercial real estate. He joined Shaw Realty in Alexandria and moved to Long & Foster when the
company began venturing into commercial real estate. In 1984, he and Sandy Petersen founded Petersen & Ross Real Estate.
"The man lived the business for 43 years," his wife said.  'He loved it. '
He and Petersen also co-wrote a manual on commercial real estate for residential agents wanting to make the switch. They called it
"Cares," for "Commercial Agents Real Estate School."
His company's most ambitious development was Nomini Bay Farms, a 379-acre waterfront community in the Northern Neck of Virginia,
on Nomini Creek just off the Potomac River in Westmoreland County. It took Mr. Ross a dozen years to complete the development.
He also went back to school over a two-year period and received his diploma from Falls Church High School at 63.
He was the first to be designated a lifetime member of the Commercial Million Dollar Sales Club, presented by the Northern Virginia
Association of Realtors.
He served for many years as the 4-H livestock leader in Virginia and volunteered his time building barns at the Montgomery County
Fairgrounds,  where he received a lifetime member award.
He was also a member the American Art Pottery Association and an  Alexandria cultural organization called the Alexander Forum. He
served for three years as president of the Pine Spring Civic Association.
His marriage to Shirley Ross ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 22 years, of Falls Church; three children from his first marriage, Brenda Nicholson of Berryville, Va., Jeffrey
Ross of Falls Church and Donna Forte of Cincinnati, and two stepsons from his second marriage, Douglas Irvin of Annapolis and Bruce
Irvin of Davidsonville; and eight grandchildren.