Martin Shubik, he of the Shapley-Shubik assignment game, and the Shapley-Shubik power index passed away on Wednesday August 24, 2018. As he passed into the `seventh age’ of man he suffered a progressive muscle disorder characterized by muscle inflammation, weakness, and atrophy (wasting).
Born in England, he was the middle of three remarkable children. His older brother, Phillip Shubik was a distinguished cancer researcher. His younger sister, Irene Shubik was a well known TV producer. She was, for example, the producer for the first season of Rumple of the Bailey.
Evacuated to Canada during the blitz, he went on to the University of Toronto and subsequently to Princeton where became a student of Morgernstern. There he became part of a celebrated cohort that are familiar in our mouths as household words; Nash, Shapley and Kuhn. Shubik himself roomed with Nash and Shapley. In his obituary of Nash, Shubik writes:
“John, Lloyd, and I were competitive in our research, which John enhanced with practical jokes such as removing the light bulb from a fixture in our joint bathroom and filling it with water, poised to drench his roommates.”
Shubik was well known as a wit, raconteur and gourmand of rabelaisian proportions. Among his pet peeves was that the classic New York deli would be killed off by the coming fashion for health food. He urged:
“Run, my friend—do not walk, for time is short and the world is about to be buried in bran flakes.”