A. Ross Eckler Retired Bell Labs staff member and published authority on wordplay, 89 A. Ross Eckler, born in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 29, 1927, passed away on Dec. 9, 2016. He graduated in 1950 from Swarthmore College with high honors. He received his PhD in mathematics in 1954 from Princeton University. He was employed by Bell Telephone Laboratories for 30 years, retiring in 1985. He married Faith L. Woodward in 1951. In 1970 he embarked on a second career as the editor and publisher of Word Ways, a small quarterly journal devoted to logology, a word coined by Dmitri Borgman to describe recreational wordplay and letterplay. During the next 40 years he became a world authority on this topic, creating a number of new ways to juggle words and letters into patterns. He wrote several books on the subject, including "Making the Alphabet Dance," published by St. Martin's Press in 1996. Devoted to outdoor pastimes, he became interested in spelunking in 1950 and hiking in 1964. For many years he and his wife hiked in many of the major mountain chains in the US and also the British Isles, as well as New Jersey and New York. Among his volunteer activities was serving as carillonneur for 30 years at St. Peter's Church in Morristown He is survived by his wife and three daughters: Margaret Malishchak of Madison, N.J.; Lois Day of Sterling, Va., and Susan Eckler-Kerns of West Milford, N.J., and five grandchildren. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, 19 Boonton Ave., Boonton, N.J. Funeral services will be private at the convenience of the family. Professional services are provided by Rowe-Lanterman Home for Funerals.