Dr. Shabbir Cheema: Remembering him with grief and gratitude

A leading scholar and advocate of democratic governance and a dear friend has passed.

A few days ago I learned that my close friend Dr. Shabbir Cheema passed away on Thanksgiving Day. His wife Sherry and other family members were with him. Blessings to Sherry, their children, and grandchildren. I am filled with gratitude for Shabbir’s life of kindness and world service.

Here are a few highlights about Shabbir’s remarkable life from the summary of his insightful memoir Journey from Kamalpur.

In Journey from Kamalpur, Shabbir Cheema narrates his life, from growing up in a mud house in rural Pakistan – suffering a decade of sickness, poverty, and sectarian prejudice as a child and teenager – to becoming a leading scholar of and advocate for democratic governance at the United Nations, the U.S. State Department’s East-West Center, and Harvard University.

In his compelling memoir, Cheema interweaves stories of his own struggles, perseverance, motivation, and self-realization, recounting the opportunities provided to him by the United States and Pakistan, and reconciling, as an immigrant, the cultural differences between his two worlds.

He discusses his life as a Muslim American after 9/11; the political turmoil in Pakistan and relations between the U.S. and Pakistan. He describes his efforts to give back by engaging in American public diplomacy programs in Iraq and Pakistan and in the United Nations initiatives to alleviate poverty, improve urban slums, and build democratic institutions in Asia, Africa, and the Arab region. He makes the case for continuing the struggle for social justice, good governance, and the rule of law.

I am forever grateful for working with Shabbir in UNDP for many years. In fact, it was Shabbir who invited me in 1990 as a UNDP consultant and then as principal policy advisor and later as deputy director. I learned so much from him about decentralization, urban development, democratic governance, and kindness in leadership.

After I retired from UNDP, Shabbir asked me to consult for the East-West Center, UNDESA, and other international organizations. He graciously wrote recommendations for my books; and I wrote chapters for some of his books. Here is a link to Shabbir’s article on participatory democracy published last year in Compassionate Conversations on Substack.

Shabbir was a best man at my wedding ceremony with Bonnie Myotai Treace. Bonnie and I attended his daughter’s wedding, and visited his wife and him in Hawaii. We also visited each other’s home in New York and met in Vienna at a UN conference.

About a month ago, Shabbir called to tell me of his prognosis. Then recently, Sherry wrote me about his passing. I miss him very much - his smile, his voice, his wisdom, and his kindness. Deep gratitude for his life of care for family, colleagues, country, and world. His wise words and deeds will continue to touch many lives.

Thank you, dear Shabbir, for the past thirty-five years of our friendship and our work together and for many precious memories.

From his bio:

Shabbir was the director of the Governance Division of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the founding director of the Asia-Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative at the East-West Center.

He taught at the University of Hawaii, the Science University of Malaysia, and New York University and worked for the U.S. government’s program on strengthening governance in Iraq and in initiatives to promote exchange and dialogue between American and Pakistani journalists.

He led the preparation of UNDP’s first policy papers on governance, human rights, urbanization and anti-corruption. He was the Program Director of the UN Global Forum on Reinventing Government and the convener of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Study Team of Eminent Scholars on Decentralization. A featured speaker at global and regional forums, he was an adviser to a number of countries to strengthen governance, democracy, and urban management.

Some of the best ways to honor Shabbir are to do what you can to strengthen and decentralize participatory democracy, support better urban management, help the urban poor, and be kind to everyone.

Aloha!