Stephen A. Ross, native of Boston, MIT professor, 73

Stephen A. Ross of New Haven, Conn., a prize winning financial economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died March 3 in Old Lyme, Conn. He was 73.

Mr. Ross was born in Boston.

He was a 1965 graduate of the California Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in 1970.

He went on to teach economics and finance at Yale University and taught at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School prior.

Mr. Ross was employed as a faculty member at MIT since the late 1990s and co-authored an introductory textbook on finance and was best known for developing arbitrage price theory in 1976.

He was known for his groundbreaking contribution to agency theory.

He was a senior trustee and member of Caltech’s investment committee and helped start several financial companies, including Roll & Ross Asset Management.

Mr. Ross was principal, managing member and cohead of research and development at Ross, Jeffrey & Antle in Darien, Conn.

He was chairman of Compensation Valuation Inc. and served as advisor to the U.S. Treasury, Commerce Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Ross is survived by his wife of 49 years, Carol (Frost); a daughter, Kate Bosch; a son, Jonathan; and two granddaughters. Services will be private. Arrangements by FultonTheroux Funeral Service, Old Lyme, Conn.