Ned Barclay Ball; Former Merrill Lynch President

Ned Barclay Ball, 81, retired president of the world’s largest investment house, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith. His family’s cotton brokerage, Barbee & Co., was acquired in 1932 by E.A. Pierce & Co., which merged in 1941 with Merrill Lynch. Ball stayed with the newly formed company, working in Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., before moving to the head office in New York City in 1965 to head international operations. In 1970, he was elected president and chief operating officer. In Portland on July 7.