Martin "Marty" Shapiro

SHAPIRO, Dr. Martin "Marty"

Dr. Martin "Marty" M. Shapiro, 89, passed away on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Atlanta, GA.

Marty was buried on Sunday, July 28, 2024, in the Arlington Cemetery of Chizuk Amuno Congregation.

Marty earned his B.A. from Yale University and his Ph.D. from Indiana University. In 1964, Emory University hired him to help develop the experimental psychology program, where he worked for fifty years. He had a long research career concentrated in mathematical models of animal learning.

While still a professor, he received his J.D. degree from Emory's Law School in 1980. Subsequently he taught courses covering the uses and misuses of psychology within the legal system. Although he never practiced law, he served as an expert witness in a variety of legal areas. He testified on behalf of minority groups and women in civil rights cases including affirmative action in university admissions and women's reproductive rights that were ultimately decided in the United States Supreme Court. Applying his statistical knowledge to criminal law, in 1991, he demonstrated experimenter-produced bias within the F.B.I. DNA population database. He continued to be active in this area, analyzing DNA population statistics in criminal cases until 2023, at age 88. Within the area of labor law, he testified as expert witness in litigation which obtained more than $1 billion in back pay for hourly employees in Walmart stores.

In 1971, he began to work in stained-glass crafting. Among his pieces are a large stained-glass mural that hung in the lobby of the Emory Chemistry building and another in a local synagogue. He continued to make beautiful windows and art pieces for friends and family right up to the beginning of 2024. Besides working with stained glass, he enjoyed doing the New York Times crossword puzzles in ink, every day, for over 70 years. He loved opera, Broadway musicals, and reading about politics, science and Jewish life.

Marty was born in Brooklyn, on December 29, 1934. His family moved to Baltimore, MD, when he was not yet two years old, where he grew up. He was predeceased by his beloved parents, Carl and Sadie (Frankel) Shapiro; and siblings, Alvin Shapiro (Sylvia) and Gloria Lippman (Sidney).

He leaves his wife, Donna; children, Beth Levine, Steven Shapiro (Tracy), Carl Shapiro (Zoe Hendrickson) and Anna Shapiro; grandchildren, Ally Levine Gallant (Dan), Alex Levine (Joanna Streck), Jack Shapiro, Ben Shapiro and Margalit Shapiro Hendrickson; great-grandchildren, Gabriel Gallant, and Oliva Levine; brother-in-law, Mark Sumner (Hui Min Chen); and many nieces and nephews.

His wife and children could always count on him to listen and support them in everything. He loved his family fiercely and will be missed.

The family requests that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to the Georgia Innocence Project (georgiainnocenceoroject.org/act/donate), PBS News Hour (pbs.org/newshour/support) or NPR (npr.org/support).

Dressler's Jewish Funeral Care, 770.451.4999.