ROBERT M. BALL ’35

ROBERT M. BALL, the commissioner of Social Security in the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations, one of the chief architects of Medicare, and an influential opponent of privatizing Social Security, died Jan. 30, 2008, at age 93. He received his degree with high distinction in English and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he was the brother of the late Theodore H. Ball of the class of 1926. After receiving a master’s degree in economics at Wesleyan, he joined the Social Security Administration soon after the Social Security Act became law and rose through the ranks to become commissioner in 1962. An effective administrator who could effect bi-partisan compromises, he had a vast knowledge of the Social Security system and an ability to explain complex topics clearly. He was a policymaker who advised other policymakers, and he wrote books, commentaries, and position papers. Even after his retirement in 1973 he continued to advocate for Social Security, calling Social Security “the nation’s most effective anti-poverty program.” In 1996, reportedly working from his living room, he headed off proposals to privatize Social Security. As recently as 2004 he worked to defeat the proposed plan to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in private accounts. The author of six books, his most recent was Insuring the Essentials: Bob Ball on Social Security (2000). Survivors include his wife of 71 years, Doris McCord Ball; two children, including Robert Jonathan Ball ’65; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.