Mark W. Mahowald, MD, Parasomnia Pioneer, Dies at 76

After Mark would receive the results of an MMPI (Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory) on one of his patients and looked at the graphic profile and saw “the Swiss Alps” he would immediately say, “Send this patient to Carlos,” as I was the psychiatrist at the sleep center. I often had black diamond trails to ski down on those Swiss Alps. Thanks, Mark.

While at a particularly boring meeting while seated together, Mark would lean over to me and say, “This is like watching the paint dry.” Or if someone was saying something that Mark could not agree with, out came, “That’s a lot of yama-yama.”

Mark was not fond of much of the research on alpha-delta sleep, which he called “the alpha-delta douky.”

Mark always signed his name with a fountain pen, and he had a collection of quirky sleep and non-sleep related figures and small toys placed behind his desk. He tended to many cactus plants in his office and in our conference room. At home, he had an aquarium, and also a koi pond in his back yard. He enjoyed his bowl of ice cream every evening. He loved his cats Earl and then Finn.

Mark’s generosity of spirit, availability to be of assistance, and kindness were remarkable, as demonstrated by the large number of enthusiastic and appreciative testimonials posted on the AASM and World Sleep Society websites, and through personal communications (email, in person) to me. He left behind an extraordinary legacy in many ways, and touched the lives of an enormous number of people. He was a great friend to me. And he was a pioneer in the history of sleep medicine.

Mark Mahowald was truly an American Original.

Photography by Christine Hill/Hennepin Healthcare (2018)