M.T. Ross, who was affectionately nicknamed "Penny", was an illustrator and comic artist in the early twentieth century. He lived in Oak Park, Illinois and had his studio in downtown Chicago. He was one of the first co-workers of Walt Disney, as well as a close friend of R.F. Outcault, with whom he developed 'Buster Brown'. M.T. "Penny" Ross moved to Southern California in 1926 to work for RKO and other studios as a set designer.

He created the newspaper comic 'Mamma's Angel Child' in 1908. It became extremely popular and was syndicated in 25 major newspapers nationwide for fifteen years, including the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore American Newspaper. He illustrated children's books like 'The Flower Babies Book', 'The Flower Children', 'Butterfly Babies' (written by Elizabeth Gordon), 'Bird Children' and 'Animal Children'.

He died in 1937 in Oakland, California, at age 56 from a heart attack.