1971 – 2006

President of Lynn University

At A Glance

• Founding President, Wilmington University (1968–1977)
• President, Marymount College → Lynn University (1971–2006)
• President Emeritus, Lynn University (2006–)
• Alumnus, New York Institute of Technology
• Helen: Co-Founder, Pine Tree Camps (1978)
• Namesakes, Ross College of Education
• Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame (2009)
• Thirty-five years of university leadership
  

President Emeritus | Lynn University, Boca Raton FL

St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary is honored to welcome Dr. Donald and Helen Ross as Chairpersons of the 2026 Friends of the Seminary Gala. For more than five decades, the Rosses have devoted their lives to a single, enduring conviction: that education transforms lives, and that every young person deserves a place to grow, to learn, and to belong.

Their story begins in 1968, when a twenty-seven-year-old educator and his new bride opened the doors of Wilmington College in Delaware, a school founded on the belief that higher education should be within reach of every student, regardless of means. Dr. Ross served as its founding president for nearly a decade, and the institution he and Helen built from a handful of converted motel rooms thrives today as Wilmington University.

In November 1971, Dr. Ross traveled to Boca Raton on what was meant to be a simple errand: to purchase the library books of Marymount College, a small Catholic women’s college founded by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, whose trustees had voted to close its doors. What he found instead were students holding cups printed with the words “Save Our College!” He stayed. Named president that same year, Dr. Ross, with Helen at his side and the founding sisters and faculty laboring beside them, led the school back from the brink.

“Just to hear Dr. Ross’ enthusiasm for this place was so encouraging. You felt there was hope.”

— Kathleen Clunan, one of Marymount’s Founding Sisters

Over thirty-five years of his leadership, the college the Rosses saved grew from roughly one hundred students into a thriving international university of thousands. Renamed the College of Boca Raton in the mid-1970s and Lynn University in 1991, it stands today as a testament to what faith in young people can accomplish. Dr. Ross retired in 2006 as President Emeritus and was succeeded by his son, Dr. Kevin M. Ross, who leads Lynn University to this day.

Helen Ross has been far more than a partner in this work; she is a builder in her own right. In 1978 she co-founded Pine Tree Camps on the university’s campus, a summer camp that began with twenty-five children of faculty and staff and now welcomes more than 1,500 children each summer. In recognition of their shared devotion to teaching and learning, Lynn University’s college of education bears both their names: the Donald E. and Helen L. Ross College of Education.

As Chairpersons of the 2026 Friends of the Seminary Gala, Dr. Donald and Helen Ross invite you to join them in their love for supporting the formation of the men  of SVDP Regional Seminary who will serve as the Church’s priests for generations to come.