James Ross (1892-1974) and Dr. Edith Levin Ross (1898-1991) emigrated from Russia in 1925, and settled in Youngstown in 1930. That year James founded Ross Radio Company, a distributor of radios, televisions, and related components. Ross Radio moved to 325 West Federal Street in 1935, and operated here until 2008.
James and Edith Ross were active leaders and philanthropists in the Mahoning Valley and for international Jewish causes. In 1947, amid rising tensions in the Holy Land before the declaration of the state of Israel, when the British Army confiscated guns from Jewish settlements leaving them defenseless, Ross Radio was a depot for weapons collected from World War II veterans by local members of the Young Zionists of America. These guns and ammunition were packed in crates marked “radio parts” and shipped to New York, where they were cleaned, matched, re-crated, and smuggled into the Holy Land.
