Thomas Gross Sr., longtime owner of G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Inc., died Jan. 11 at Mount Carmel West Hospital in Columbus after a short battle with cancer. The Columbus resident was 83. Gross retired in 2013 after 60 years as a second-generation owner and principal of G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Inc., based in Deerfield Township. The company is owned today by the Gross and Jarson families. He led the expansion of G&J’s business into the Columbus market in the early 1960s.