Has, after a long illness passed away. Though born in Geneva, he spent the early part of his life in France. The 1940 invasion of France propelled the Balinski family to the United States. He returned to France 40 years later where he settled.
Balinski received his PhD under the supervision of Albert Tucker, part of that remarkable cohort of Princeton mathematicians who would go on to have a profound impact on Game Theory and mathematical programming. In mathematical programming he is celebrated for, among other things, his work on the diameter of polytopes that arise from the transportation problem and primal-dual algorithms for the matching problem.
In Game Theory he is known for his contributions to the study of electoral systems. His book with Peyton Young on fair representation remains a landmark in the area. It sets a gold standard for both prose and how mathematics can be deployed to make sense of issues that so muddled others that came before them.
For his contributions he was honored with INFORMS’ John von Neumann theory prize and The Lester Ford prize of the Mathematical Association of America.