Robert M. Ball; 'Spiritual Leader' of Social Security

He was appointed by President John F. Kennedy, reappointed twice by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and again by President Richard M. Nixon before resigning in 1973.

As a visiting scholar at the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences, he helped shape the Carter administration's 1977 Social Security proposals that also improved the program's financing. Although out of office, he kept a watchful eye on the program, working behind the scenes to defeat President Ronald Reagan's first attempt to slash benefits.

Appointed by then-House Speaker Tip O'Neill (D) to a bipartisan commission to solve Social Security's financial problems, Mr. Ball worked with the panel's chairman, Alan Greenspan, to ensure that the whole package was acceptable; at one point, the American Scholar article said, Mr. Ball slid down a snowy slope behind his suburban Washington home to have a secret rendezvous at the White House.

The 1983 amendments that stemmed from the Greenspan Commission were the last major piece of Social Security legislation passed in the 20th century, historians said.

Mr. Ball also headed off proposals in 1996, from his living room headquarters, to privatize Social Security, and he worked to defeat President Bush's 2004 plan to reshape Social Security by allowing younger workers to invest their taxes in private accounts.

Mr. Ball enjoyed hiking, water sports, badminton and reading history and literature. He was also the subject of a book, "Robert Ball and the Politics of Social Security" (2003) by Edward D. Berkowitz.

Survivors include his wife of 71 years, Doris McCord Ball of Mitchellville; two children, Robert Jonathan Ball of Cazenovia, N.Y., and Jacqueline Ball Smith of Merritt, N.H.; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.