Introduction
Bob Ross (April 2, 1934 – December 13, 2003) was the founder and former publisher of the Bay Area Reporter and a key gay rights and AIDS activist in San Francisco.
Ross was born in New York City.
In addition to the Bay Area Reporter, Ross published the long-running Gay Comix, beginning in 1985 and continuing until 1998.
He was criticized by some for his more moderate policies, sometimes leaning toward the conservative, with gay rights being seen by many as a primarily liberal issue.
Bob Ross Foundation
In 1996, he established the Bob Ross Foundation, which donated to a "broad portfolio of nonprofits". In 2016, the Foundation donated $50,000 to purchase equipment for the GLBT Historical Society to digitize and publish a complete searchable archive of the Bay Area Reporter from the first issue in 1971 until 2005 when the newspaper began online operations.