Robert Ross, co-founder of the Interurban Restaurant and the Urban Management Incorporated restaurant group, died on Tuesday. Ross, a father of six, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 72.
Known as "The Rosser" thanks to long-running radio ads with Dean Blevins, he and career-long partner Rusty Loeffler launched the first Interurban concept in 1976. They first met in second grade.
“We went to Sunday school together at Crown Heights Christian Church,” Loeffler said. “But we really became friends waiting tables together at Steak and Ale in 1969.”
Seven years later, they partnered with Rusty’s father, Frank Loeffler, to turn Norman's old Interurban line terminal into the Interurban Eating House.