The Long Reach Of Shelley Ross

Mixing the metaphors a bit, but talk about shadows cast by giants... Shelley Ross, or her reputation I should say, was legendary at ABC News. She's leaving ABC now, and I never met her unfortunately.

I'd sit down here on the front porch and hear tell of Ms. Ross' super-size exploits from my Atlanta-based pal, Terri, who traveled the world for decades as a "flyaway" editor with Good Morning America. I never possessed anything remotely like Ms. Ross' career drive, but I sure admit to admiring it as a producer on a professional level, from afar. That gal knows how to live large, and she'll no doubt keep on doing just that.

Full story about Ms. Ross and her ABC News departure here, but I like this little snippet the best. Ogling engagement rings is a universal, girl, water cooler pleasure that has no socio-economic boundaries, other than that on display by a rock-wearer of course:

Over the course of three hours, Ms. Ross polished off most of the smaller half of a turkey wrap purchased for her (“You’re buying”) at the Café Europa opposite Lincoln Square. She planned to bring the rest home to her husband, David Simone, a successful record-industry executive who has just purchased the complete catalog of Hall and Oates.

Mr. Simone and Ms. Ross share an apartment in the Bloomberg Building and a manse in Connecticut. Among his most successful career acquisitions is the catalog of a little-known Trinidadian songwriter. Hidden in the catalog was one particular gem, Ms. Ross explained.

She pointed to her left ring finger, atop which sat a brilliant-cut yellow diamond about the size of a quarter. “This is courtesy of ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’” she said, meaning the 2000 mega-hit by the Baha Men. Ms. Ross declined to provide the diamond’s carat weight for the record, although she did describe the day she passed the ring around the predominantly female Good Morning America staff, to a chorus of admiring oohs and ahhs.