‘Slowest grad’ Arthur Ross earns arts degree from UBC — 54 years after enrolling

Retired lawyer Arthur Ross has taken many paths in life — from acting to law school — but he always wanted to finish the arts degree that he began in 1969 at the University of British Columbia.

One fateful night watching the opera in Chicago, he realized he yearned to know more about how the First World War started, and the penny dropped: Go back to UBC and finish what he started.

Ross, 71, will graduate this week from UBC with a bachelor of arts, majoring in history. His wife and two of their three children will join him for the celebration.

He jokes that, after 54 years, he’s UBC’s “slowest” graduate.

“I always thought maybe at some point, I would go back and try to finish off that degree, just as something to do,” he told Postmedia. “And it was stimulating, it sharpened my brain.”