In her tenure as an owner and president of Cook Pony Farm Real Estate, Melanie Amanda Ross “managed 10 offices across the East End of Long Island and grew the company to the number-two-grossing real estate firm in the Hamptons,” her family wrote.
Ms. Ross, who was 76, died on June 30 of complications of a brain aneurysm.
“She set the standard for professionalism, ethics, and knowledge in Hamptons real estate, fostering a staff that had the utmost respect and loyalty towards her as she did for them,” her family said.
During her years at the helm, “Melanie navigated and steered the ship with grace through many changes, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring of ownership, office expansions, and more. Her ethics and hard work are what brought her success in business and life.” She and her partners sold Cook Pony Farm to Corcoran Real Estate in 2003, but she stayed on as regional vice president.
Ms. Ross was born in Southampton on April 20, 1948, to Leonard Schaefer and the former Mary Thomason. She grew up on King Street in East Hampton, “adored by her parents,” who called her “the Queen.”
Her father ran a taxi and limousine company and as a child she spent many days at home helping tend to relatives and friends who worked for the company. Her mother baked for both family and staff as they worked all hours. When Ms. Ross was old enough to drive, “she would brag/laugh that she got the best tips as the only young female driver,” her family wrote.
After graduating from East Hampton High School, she left for modeling school in New York City, but soon returned to East Hampton and took a job as a secretary for Ed Cook of Ed Cook Insurance. He promised to teach her everything he knew, her family said, and as the Cook Agency expanded to eventually include insurance and real estate, so did her career.
In more recent years, not looking to retire, she worked at Nellie’s, an antiques store in Amagansett, alongside her friend Connie Dankmyer, who owns the shop. She wintered in Kapalua, Hawaii, and Jupiter, Fla.
At home here, she enjoyed gardening, walks from her house on Old Stone Highway in Springs to Barnes Hole, feeding birds, and crossword puzzles. As a cook she would host family for holiday feasts. She was happiest with family, “enjoying wine, cheese, and conversation while watching the sunset at Louse Point,” they said.
She is survived by her husband, Mike Ross. She met him when she was 22 and he was driving by her house in his 1965 Mustang and “captured her heart.” Together, “they enjoyed road trips hunting for antiques, European cruises, and evenings at home guessing who would be eliminated from ‘Dancing With the Stars’ that week.”
They had a son, Tim, and she “especially loved showing her friends Jack Graves’s articles about Tim’s triumphs in volleyball and other East Hampton sports.” But “nothing made her smile more than meeting her granddaughter, Summer Isabella Ross,” who was born on March 4 this year to Tim and his wife, Nicole, who live in East Hampton.
She is also survived by her brother Russell Schaefer of East Hampton and his wife, Joanne, and son, Dan.
Another brother, Leonard Schaefer, died before her, as did a nephew.
