The Marquette University community mourns the loss of Dr. Anees Sheikh, professor emeritus of psychology and a beloved teacher, mentor and internationally recognized pioneer in the study of mental imagery, who died Sept. 28 at the age of 88.
Sheikh earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Panjab and his doctorate in psychology from the University of Western Ontario in 1965.
Sheikh joined Marquette’s Department of Psychology in 1966, beginning a 47-year career at the university. He became an associate professor with tenure in 1973, full professor in 1979, and served as department chair from 1987 to 1992. He was conferred professor emeritus status in 2014.
A licensed psychologist, Sheikh devoted much of his scholarly career to exploring the connections among imagination, emotion and physical health. A pioneer in the therapeutic uses of mental imagery, he served as founding editor of the “Journal of Mental Imagery,” organized national and international conferences in the field and trained thousands of health professionals through workshops and lectures around the world. Over the course of his career, he published numerous scholarly articles and 16 books on mental imagery.
Sheikh’s decades of work helped bring greater recognition to the healing potential of mental imagery. The Dalai Lama wrote the foreword to Sheikh’s 2002 book, “Healing Images: The Role of Imagination in Health,” affirming an idea at the heart of Sheikh’s career: that imagination is deeply connected to our physical and emotional well-being.
But Sheikh’s legacy at Marquette extended well beyond his scholarship. Over the decades, he created undergraduate and graduate courses including the Psychology of Fantasy and Imagination, Psychology of Happiness, and Psychology of Death and Dying, as well as courses in psychotherapy and the clinical uses of mental imagery. His teaching centered not only on imparting knowledge but on helping students discover wisdom within themselves.
That approach earned Sheikh the 2006 Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J., Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence. Students remembered Sheikh for the warmth and compassion he brought to the classroom. One nominator for the Raynor Award wrote that Sheikh provided students with “the stimulation for us to learn ourselves” and encouraged them to seek their own understanding with his “warm and gentle guidance.”
His philosophy of teaching was perhaps best captured in advice he offered his students: “Always try to be kind.”
A celebration of Sheikh’s life will be held Saturday, Nov. 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Union’s Lunda Room. To RSVP, contact Sonia Sheikh. Holding the celebration at Marquette fulfills one of Sheikh’s final wishes.
