Louis R. Ross, 67, a former vice chairman of Ford Motor Co. who oversaw the introduction in 1985 of the Ford Taurus, which became one of the company's most successful cars, died May 2 in Naples, Fla.

The Taurus, which was conceived in 1979 and developed for about $3 billion, was a huge gamble for Ford because it was to be the basis for many of Ford's cars into the 1990s.

Jesus Montane, one of a band of revolutionaries who fought alongside Fidel Castro to seize power in Cuba in the 1950s, died yesterday in Havana. His age was not disclosed. The government announced his death, saying only that he died of a massive heart attack in the early morning.

Dictator Fulgencio Batista jailed Mr. Montane and other guerrillas in Cuba's Isle of Pines for years after they mounted a failed attack in 1953 on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago, launching the revolution. They escaped and fled to Mexico, where they planned a second attack. They returned in 1956, vanished into the countryside and overthrew Batista on Jan. 1, 1959.

Pub Date: 5/08/99