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Case file s340 · Literature and art · 1995
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1995
Bob Ross: Bob Ross publicity photo (c. 1982) (cropped)
Bob Ross. Unknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
4 July 1995
Place
Orlando, Florida · United States
Field
painter, television host · Visual art and architecture on the timeline
Legal tradition
Florida probate; Virginia federal court · Common law
Historical event
Public television's The Joy of Painting, 1983 to 1994
Religion
Bob Ross: Other (recorded as deism on Wikidata)
Literature and artPostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

Bob Ross left his name to his son, and his business partners won it in court

Bob Ross, his wife Jane, and Annette and Walt Kowalski pooled their savings to start Bob Ross Inc. Under the company's terms, a partner's shares were split among the surviving partners at death. Jane died first†, and after Bob's death from lymphoma at 52 the Kowalskis held the company alone. Ross had left the Kowalskis out of his will. He left his estate and the rights to his name and likeness to his son, Steve, and his half-brother, Jimmie Cox. The Kowalskis argued that nearly all of Ross's work was work for hire, so he had no right to bequeath it, and won. Joan Kowalski, who took over the company, settled with Cox: Bob Ross Inc. got the name and likeness, and Steve could resume his art career without a lawsuit. A federal case, RSR Art, LLC v. Bob Ross, Inc., was decided on 31 March 2019. In 2021 Netflix released Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed about the dispute. In 2023 an art dealer listed a Ross painting at $9,850,000, and in November 2025 three Ross paintings sold at Bonhams for $662,000 for public television.

What the law took from it

A company buy-sell clause can strip a founder's family of his own name, whatever his will says.

Family version vs. the record

Steve Ross and Ross's friends say Bob wanted the family to keep his name ( Bob Ross Inc. says the rights belonged to the company under work-for-hire terms, and the courts agreed (

thedailybeast.comCourtListener
Sources
  1. CourtListenerCourt record
  2. thedailybeast.comPress
  3. current.orgPress
  4. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Bob Ross left his name to his son, and his business partners won it in court,” story s340, https://www.celebrity.estate/bob-ross-1995, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Literature and artPostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States