William Vickrey was a Canadian born American economist, known for propagating unusual solutions to everyday problems. Born in early twentieth century, he came into close contact with orphans from the Armenian holocaust early in his life. The experience had a profound effect on his young mind and he felt that every dollar he otherwise spent was a dollar he did not spend in helping the orphans. A well-known post-Keynesian economist, educated first at Yale and then at Columbia University, he spent all his life teaching at Columbia. He cared little for money matters or materialistic comfort or even getting credit for himself; he was more interested in propagating ideas and solving problems. When he received the Noble Prize, he was happy that government authorities would now find it harder to reject his proposals, caring very little for the prize money that accompanied it. Indeed, many of his suggestions like ‘congestion pricing’ were not accepted because of political considerations. However, his works had profound influence on other economists. For example, the modern theory of auction is based on his 1961 seminal work. A prolific writer, he had left behind 8 books, 140 published articles, 27 reviews and 61 unpublished articles and notes.