"Joyce and I are enjoying planning together. Our interaction with one another has taken our friendship to a new level. What a Gift." - Shirley Shelpman

Honorary
President
Dr. Florence Ross

At 80, Dr. Florence Ross received her Ph.D. in conflict resolution and is tireless as ever. In addition to her commitments to TAO, she works with organizations ranging from the National Organization of Women (NOW) to the Spiritual Eldering Institute. Dr. Ross applies her education and experience to the development of a cross-cultural community council dedicated building a balanced and harmonious Broward County.

Her passion for building bridges between people is lifelong. After World War II, Florence organized a human relations workshop series culminating with a speech by Eleanor Roosevelt on the need to work for world peace. In the 1980s, Florence attended a citizen's summit on peace in the Soviet Union organized by Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev. As she saw the meeting degrade into a battle of egos, Florence, exercising her prerogative of age, grabbed the microphone and admonished the whole group telling them, "You are behaving like little boys with your one-upmanship games. The leaders of both countries should fire the whole lot of you." She completely changed the tenor of the conference. As a result the Soviet press deemed her "Grandmother to the world."

Currently Dr. Ross works with incarcerated young men to dispel their anger and fear in the hopes of mitigating their tendencies toward violence. She also assists the police by working with youths to improve communications and relationships, and she serves as a Citizen Diplomat promoting human relations and mediation.

An activist by nature, Florence has spread her compassion to diverse areas throughout the years. In the 1930s, she made speeches in New York City subway cars to collect money for the Jewish National Fund. Later she raised money for cancer research planning yearly balls each saluting a different country.

Her feelings of oneness with all of humanity continue to draw her into leadership roles for a number of humanitarian and environmental causes. She organized Grandmothers for Peace to join in the fight against nuclear weapons. She is a member of the Silver-Haired Legislators and a non-governmental organization on aging at the United Nations. Both by example and as an advocate for women elders to become mentors, intergenerational functionaries, and cyber activists, Florence campaigns against the inertia created by "couch potato mentality."

After raising two successful children (son David a psychologist working in Portland, Oregon and daughter, Ann, a guidance counselor in Louisville, Kentucky), people of all ages including an Israeli Rabbi and an Orlando architect continually ask Florence to be their surrogate mother.

In the same matter-of-fact way that she dismisses the challenge of handling her many activities with "there's time for everything," Florence attributes her maternal magnetism to "just being human." And to Florence being human is about living a life that has meaning through relationships and a sense of justice.

Welcome to TAO - The South Florida Center for Jewish Renewal.