Rosa Maria deCarvalho Ross

Our beautiful mother, Rosa Maria deCarvalho Ross, passed away peacefully at her home in East Marion, surrounded by family and friends, on June 28, 2024.

She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. Her friends from around the globe are too many to name, including the countless people she mentored, young and old, in every phase of her life. Her door was always open for advice, gossip and late night revelry.

Rosa was born to a prominent Macanese family in Hong Kong on Aug. 30, 1937. Her childhood with her five siblings was boisterous and happy, though certainly marred by World War II and the invasion of Hong Kong by Japanese forces. As a young secretary working for British Overseas Airway Corporation, she met the love of her life and future husband, Ron Ross. They eloped to London, married in a registry office (or so they claimed, but never really confirmed!) and thus began a life of travel and adventure.

By the time they settled in New York City in 1977, they had lived in Milan, Caracas, Los Angeles and Boston. While living in Italy as a young bride, Rosa learned to cook from her friend Marcella Hazan. Her talent and passion for cooking was revealed and the rest is history. Rosa was a cook, teacher, cookbook author, caterer and restaurateur in a career that spanned 50 years. She was a founding member of the Women’s Culinary Alliance and the James Beard Foundation and one of the first teachers at Peter Kump’s NY Cooking School, later to become the Institute of Culinary Education. None of these accomplishments prevented her from making astonishingly delicious dinners for her family every single night, a tradition we were never tempted to break.

At the time of her death she was working on two books and ordering her daughters around from her arm chair as they cooked for her. Ron and Rosa’s second home in East Marion was a source of joy and they eventually retired there. Retirement for Rosa meant opening a restaurant in 2005 at the age of 68. Scrimshaw was a great success and a lifelong dream realized. She and Ron embraced their North Fork community and were loved in return. Their final years by the sea were happy times full of family gatherings and delicious food. We will miss her forever.

Rosa is survived by her daughters, Sarah and Samantha; her grandchildren, Clara and Renaldo; sons-in-law, siblings, nieces and nephews.

A service is planned for the fall of 2024 with arrangements handled by Horton-Mathie Funeral Home of Greenport.

This is a paid notice.