York Supreme Court Justice, and Martha Lowenstein Frankenthaler (1895-1954). Her sister was the abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011).

In 1943 Ross graduated from Mount Holyoke College. Ross married Arthur Ross (1910-2007) in 1946 and had three children: Alfred (1946), Beverly (1948), and Clifford (1952). During the 1980s Ross was the first tapestry maker to translate into wool famous paintings,