CHERRYFIELD – Frank A. Gross II, 89, former sheriff of Suffolk County, New York and World War II captain in the U.S. Maritime Service died Monday, Feb. 28, 2005, in Sun City Center, Fla. the son of Frank A. and Ethel Terry Gross, he was born May 1, 1915, in Amagansett, N.Y. and lived in Sayville, N.Y., until 1980. Frank served in the U.S. Merchant Marines rising from ordinary seaman to master. At the time, he was the youngest person to hold a master marine’s license to operate vessels of unlimited tonnage in any ocean. In World War II, he served in all three theatres of the war as master of supply ships in the Atlantic, Pacific and China Sea. At the outset of World War II, his ship was caught in the Pacific and was sunk by Japanese shelling. In 1942 and 1943, while serving in the North Atlantic, his ship was sunk by a German U-boat. He participated as a member of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet in the landings on Saipan, Enowitok, Tinian, Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He rose to the rank of captain in the U.S. Maritime Service. After the war, he was appointed sheriff of Suffold County, N.Y., by then Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Later, Governor Rockefeller named him as a commissioner of the New York State Parole Board and he served as a member of this board until his retirement in 1980. Frank was an avid and expert fly fisherman, an active member of the Brooklyn Fly Fisher’s Club and the Angler’s Club of New York City. He moved to Cherryfield in 1980 and married Jeanne Skeels McKinnon in 1981. They enjoyed years of world travel together. While in Cherryfield, they were gracious hosts to many good friends. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; daughter, Robin Terry Gross and stepchildren, Sally McKinnon, Frederic McKinnon and his wife, Betsy and Jeanne McKinnon Lambert; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. He was predeceased by his sons, Frank A. Gross III and Hamilton Peck Gross. A funeral Mass will be held 11 a.m. Friday, March 11, at St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church, Cherryfield. Gifts in memory of Frank may be sent to the Narraguagus Salmon Club, care of Wayne West, 421 Pigeon Hill Bay Road, Steuben, ME 04680. Arrangements are by Bragdon-Kelley-Campbell Funeral Home, Milbridge.
FRANK A. GROSS II
