Died. Edward P. Parker, 61, chairman of the board of Parker Brothers, manufacturers of popular American tabletop games since 1883; of cancer; in Salem, Mass. Parker's company has established a record for originality in an industry full of imitators; in 1902 it introduced Americans to table tennis under the trade name Ping Pong; other Parker Brothers classics include Clue and the allegedly oracular Ouija Board.

When Atlantic City threatened last year to change the names of its Baltic and Mediterranean avenues, Parker sprang to eloquent defense of his firm's best-selling game, Monopoly (whose board squares are named after real estate in the seaside resort), and succeeded in preserving not only the town's street names but a 38-year-old American tradition as well.

qed

Died. Woodward Maurice ("Tex") Ritter, 67, country-and-western singing star; of a heart attack; in Nashville, Term. A deep-voiced Texan, Ritter was best known for throaty, twangy recordings of such country classics as You Are My Sunshine, Jingle, Jangle, Jingle and of the theme from the 1952 western High Noon. As a singing cowboy, Ritter also played in 70-odd western films, mostly during the '40s; later he appeared on TV's Zane Grey Theater.

qed

Died. Charles Eustis ("Chip") Bohlen, 69, career diplomat and for more than 30 years a leading U.S. expert on Soviet affairs (see THE NATION).

qed

Died. Arthur John Daley, 69, long-tune sports columnist for the New York Times; of an apparent heart attack; in Manhattan. Daley joined the Times sports staff in 1926 as a general reporter. A lanky, insatiable baseball fan with an easy, humorous style, Daley in 1956 became the second sportswriter ever to win a Pulitzer Prize.

qed

Died. Errett Lobban Cord, 79, who built the streamlined, low-slung, coffin-nosed Cord automobile of the 1930s; of a heart attack; in Reno. After selling cars in Chicago, Cord became president of the failing Auburn Automobile Co.

in 1925. Eventually it became a part of the Cord Corp. and turned out cars that were far ahead of their time, highly stylized, with front-wheel drive, supercharged engine, bucket seats and tuckaway headlights. In 1937, trouble with the SEC forced Cord to sell his holdings, which by then included aircraft companies and a shipbuilding concern, for $2.6 million. In the same year, manufacture of the Cord--a high-priced ($3,000) car in the Depression era--was discontinued. Cord moved to Nevada two years later; in the '50s he became a state senator and a major force in local Democratic politics.

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