Ian Simpson Ross

Ian Simpson Ross (9 August 1930 – 21 May 2015 ) was a Scottish academic and biographer of Adam Smith.

He was born in Dundee. His father worked in the jute industry and his mother was employed in service. He was educated at Blackness Primary School and was awarded a bursary to Harris Academy. He was granted a Tyndall-Bruce Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford, where he studied the Scottish poets at James VI's court under the supervision of David Nichol Smith. He was awarded a BLitt in 1956.

His 1995 biography of Adam Smith was the first full-scale biography since John Rae's 1895 work. It was well received and the second edition was published in 2010. Gavin Kennedy said "Ian was the doyen among Adam Smith's modern scholarly biographers. His biography will never be surpassed."

He visited Scotland during the 2014 independence referendum and was a supporter of Scottish independence. In 2015 he died in Vancouver, aged 84, and was survived by his wife and their five children.

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