Exec behind Pillsbury Doughboy dies

NEW YORK -- Robert Ross, a former advertising executive who helped create the concept for the Pillsbury Doughboy, died Thursday in Hendersonville, N.C. He was 85.

Ross, who worked for the Leo Burnett Company in Chicago, was one of the people who worked on the idea for Poppin' Fresh, the character featured in Pillsbury advertisements.

He also worked at D'Arcy McManus Masius, becoming senior vice president and creative director for the company's Chicago offices in 1969. He retired in 1971. Burnett and D'Arcy later became conglomerates.

Ross also wrote mystery novels, including "The Medici Guns," "The Medici Emerald" and "The French Finish," which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for the best first mystery by a new writer in 1978.

In 1980, he moved to Hendersonville and wrote a weekly column for the area's daily newspaper, The Times-News.