Jack Shaheen was born on September 21, 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer, known for Syriana (2005), Gibran: Beyond Borders and Shimmer and Shine (2015). He was married to Bernice. He died on July 9, 2017 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
Received a bachelors degree from what was then Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. After Army service in Germany, he earned a master's degree in theater from Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate in communications from the University of Missouri.
An Arab-American scholar, author and activist who challenged negative stereotypes of Arabs in movies and TV. He was a long-time faculty member of Southern Illinois University, where he taught mass communications.
His parents were Christian immigrants from Lebanon.