Benjamin Gross EE 1912 was an electrical engineer, inventor, and radio entrepreneur.   After graduating at the age of 18 he joined electrical contractors L.K. Comstock and Company where he rose to position of chief engineer in 1914.  Four years later he became chief engineer at Hazel and Butler, where he developed original designs for the common neutral feeder system, the loop power bus distribution system, and the single pole multi-unit lighting panel, which he sold to General Electric.  In 1922 he moved into the new radio industry as the eastern distributor for Stromberg-Carlson Radio and TV.  He formed Gross Distributors in 1945. In 1972 he retired as chairman of the Capehart Corporation and of Gross Distributors.

He was a charter member of the New York Electrical & Gas Association’s Electrical Distributor Group and the Federation for Jewish Philanthropies.  In 1933 he was chairman of the National Recovery Administration’s National Radio Wholesale Code Authority. 

He served as chairman of The Cooper Union special alumni gifts committee of The Cooper Union development’ fund and helped create the school’s nuclear course.

Awards

Benjamin Gross was given a Cooper Union Presidential Citation in 1956. He was admitted into The Cooper Union Hall of Fame in 2009.

References

AtCooper, Benjamin Gross obituary, Winter 1977

Benjamin Gross Is Dead; Engineer and Inventor, 83 Headed Capehart Concern, New York Times, Oct. 22, 1976 . Link