February 21, 2022
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OBITUARY
One will normally feel delightful in discussing Prof Babatunde Ogunnaike. It however becomes a burden to discuss him in past tenses.
Let’s make him discuss himself.
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https://youtu.be/WbN_ds-L93g
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This was in 2018.
Please share this pain with us and pray along with his family and friends for the repose of his soul.
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.“Right from an early age, Tunde had been well focused and it is therefore not a surprise for his incredible achievements. He was a genius and a rare breed. He excelled in all that he laid his hands on. He was specially endowed and empowered by the Almighty God. He was blessed all round. He was among the five people that composed the current Nigerian national anthem.” – Mrs Aderonke Fasola.
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“As accomplished as he was, he was an excellent listener and had utmost respect for his colleagues. Just an amazing human being and a most brilliant mind. The world has lost a great son and heaven has gained a wonderful soul” – Geoffrey Okogbaa Prof.
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“My first encounter with the Prof gave me the enthusiasm to aspire to higher height as a young African.. I took his words and wrote my first article at UD on leadership and up till now his words have been with me” – Isaac Gyamfi Korang
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The latest lecture which the late Prof Babatunde Ogunnaike (65) gave to the Nigerian Academy of Engineering on the subject “Engineering and the COVID-19 Pandemic Response” in April 2021 is available at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/XuFCRwRLkapuI3H7mvSFAlMjJs6h9UQwqEYeYuRq5-fAJTMI2kuYG1GQyiOp8jMuHUnWOMenFa1PqlO_.vreu79MFw_vsFFAl
(00:25:34 – 02:01:56)
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Please read further on obsequies for late Prof Babatunde ogunnaike at:
https://www.dohertyfh.com/obituary/DrBabatunde-Ogunnaike
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I pray almighty Allah ‘‘bless his soul with an elevated place in heavens,’’ and commit family and friends to divine comfort and patience.
I was his student… He was my mentor. Very inspiring and truly a blessing to all. Rest In Peace Dear Prof. My prayer is for our dear Lord to grant his family the grace and strength to cope with the loss.
A great loss to the Engineering family. Your erudition and contribution to the world of Chemical and Systems Engineering leave a landmark for others to thread. May the Lord grant your soul eternal rest.
What a great mind he was. Truly great in every sense of that word…
This is a tragic and a rude shock. Another brilliant and good soul has departed this crazy world. This is a great loss, he made us all proud. May his gentle soul rest in peace, and the good LORD console and keep his family.
May his gentle rest in perfect peace.
Papa was so fired up when he came back with his family to Nigeria in the early 80s. Just as soon, he left the country seeing how unserious and anti-intellectual Nigerian system quickly turned out to be. He had great ideas of what were potentially possible in the country. I learned that he often came in from US to work on many assignments in Nigeria.
Swanston House and GCI have parted with another genius. May the Lord comfort his wife and children. Amen.
Wow, Tunde was so full of life the last time we chatted.
He was my childhood friend from Agbeja street, Oke Ado, Ibadan. Always ready to give a helping hand always willing to listen to your problems.
He had such a brilliant mind, always been proud of him.
I pray for God’s comfort for Anna and the children as well as his entire family.
May Tunde’s gentle soul rest in perfect peace.
We will all miss this great man. Adieu Tunde till we meet at the foot of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Anna and family, how sad my heart is having heard this news today. I know he is at peace now with all of his loved one who preceded him. How lucky I was to call him my nephew.
Our sincerest condolences on this great Earthly loss! What amost brilliant man he was!
Bless your hearts, dear Anna and boys! I am so incredibly sorry to hear of Tunde’s passing. He was too young to leave, yet gave so much goodness to the world in his short time here.
It was great pleasure knowing Tunde as a colleague. Was just thinking about calling him to discuss something of mutual interest a few weeks ago but never quite got to it. As accomplished as he was, he was an excellent listener and had utmost respect for his colleagues. Just an amazing human being and a most brilliant mind. The world has lost a great son and heaven has gained a wonderful soul.
May God comfort his family , friends, and colleagues and may He Grant his soul eternal rest
Adieu
May the Lord comfort and stand by his wife and family in Jesus name.
Indeed a great loss to the world of science and knowledge. Just an interaction with him says it all.
Someone defined education as what you remember after you have forgotten all you were taught. Prof., I live to remember you always. You lived well. You left indelibly lustrous marks here. Looking forward to seeing you heaven someday! Enjoy your rest. Sister Anna, stay comforted and strong. The Lord be with you all. – Niyi Aloba, his student.
Oh Anna, my heart is breaking for you and your sons. I am deeply sorry for your loss. Tunde was such a good husband and father and a brilliant mind, and has left this earth far too soon. Sending peace and love, dear cousin.
Oh my God!. What a devastating news. This is a great loss to the international engineering academic world. He was being honoured and celebrated by his University in a post on May 19, 2021. I pray Almighty God to accept his soul and console his brothers, sisters, his wife, children, grandchildren and the two families.
Akin Ogungbe
I will forever remember this amazing soul. My first encounter with the Prof gave me the enthusiasm to aspire to higher height as a young African.. I took his words and wrote my first article at UD on leadership and up till now his words has been with me. I enjoyed the Mandela Washington Fellowship at University of Delaware because his inputs as an African to African was amazing and exemplary. I thank God for meeting you in my life endeavors. Rest well Prof.
My Uncle lived a very intentional and purpose driven life. it hurts and feels like a dream every passing second to know he is no more. My uncle touched everyones life in a positive way. He respected both the young and old. He was an exemplary leader. Always wanted the best for everyone. He would always say I looked like my great-grandmother (his paternal grandmother) and call me Iya. I look back and wonder if I spent as much time with him to tap from his wealth and wisdom but I am thankful for the times spent and for one thing he left me with, to imbibe the fruits of the spirit. As a Christian he served God tirelessly and he lived a life showing the fruits of the spirit, it showed in his character. My uncle a gentleman to the core, I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice.
His death hurts so bad, words cannot explain it. But I am happy knowing he is by the right side of his maker, a place where heavenly sounds wake him up and put him to sleep, a place of eternal rest better than the most beautiful parts of earth.
I pray for my cousins and aunty most especially that the Lord gives them beauty for ashes and stays close to them like no other.
My heart cries, I can’t question God because I choose not to (God is intentional in his ways), but this loss is one I cannot understand.
Thank you Uncle Tunde for living a life worth emulating, your gentle ways, your conservative nature, your brilliance (one of the smartest people I know till date)
I love you but God loves you more.
Oluwamayowa Ogunnaike (Niece)
Uncle Tunde you were such a very brilliant, charming and very respectful person. You touched so many lives positively and were a great mentor to too many people. You were indeed a great achiever who was never arrogant about his great achievements. You were a very selfless person. Good testimonials about you are what we have to hold unto now. It really hurts to hear that you have passed but I know that you are in a better place dancing with the angels. I thank God for your wife, children and lovely family that you have left behind. May the Almighty God console all of them and may your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen 🙏🏽.
A rare gem has just departed. Glory be to God you have imparted so many as an erudite Professor but we shall take solace in the fact you have left giant footprints on sands of time. Great Legacy you bequeathed to so many. Julius Caesar’s “Veni, Vidi, Vici” aptly describes your stay on this earth. Rest on!!
Egbon Tunde, It breaks my heart that you were taken so unexpectedly. You were SOMEONE SPECIAL who meant more than words can say. Your memory will never leave us and live long in our hearts. I prayed that the Almighty God will console and comfort the family you left behind. Sunre O.
Though I never really met you one on one but I knew you in my mates who were your students, seun my classmate who was your brother and the GCIOBA that you and I belonged to. May The Lord recieve your soul into His bossom. Rest in peace Prof.
Tough to discuss Professor Babatunde Ogunnaike in the past, but the reality is here. Everything about him in the nearly fifty years that I knew him was, and remains excellent. In spite of brother Tunde’s innumerable and profound accomplishments in all spheres of life, he was disarmingly humble. At conversations, lecture rooms and other engagements, his soft and soothing voice was ever so piercing and convincing. He was indeed a giant and a genius, the type to be encountered sparsely in a generation. Again, the grim reaper has depleted the ranks of global icons. He will be sorely missed. Fare thee well our shining star.
Tunde’s sudden passage is a big shock and very painful. He was too young and clean to exit this early. I dare say, he was a PERFECT GENTLEMAN (in all ramifications: amongst siblings, to in-laws, wife, children, other family members and relations, colleagues and students across the globe, neighbours, the body of Christ, school/college mates, friends, etc.). Cerebrally, Babs (for Babatunde) was exceptionally blessed all round and he offered the light therefrom with affection and respect to all those that crossed his paths. Very rarely, he was one of the five that contributed to the composition of Nigeria’s current National anthem some forty years ago. Nigeria long lost him. And now, it’s God giveth, God taketh. May his soul rest in perfect peace. Adieu my brother.
On behalf of the Oletubo family, our deep condolences to Mrs. Iyabode Williams and the entire Ogunnaike and Kafaru families. Pray that the Almighty grant all, the fortitude to bare the excruciating and irreparable loss.
I am so thankful that I got to meet Prof Ogunnaike through my dearest Prof Olu Lafe. However, I knew of Prof. Ogunnaike’s academic brilliance and his family more than 10 years earlier when I enrolled into Government College Ibadan.
Yes, the stories of his academic achievement even at an early age was told to many of us to inspire many young student. His father was one of our teachers at GCI and was a disciplinarian and equally loving. We called him “Paapa” affectionately.
I was a student of Prof Ogunnaike in his Statistics and Time Series Analysis class at the University of Lagos. I enjoyed and loved the class. He was brilliant.
We also got to be at Delaware for some years at the same time. Even though we did not see each other much, I always had sincere connection and admiration for him. You just gotta to love him… his humility, his compassion, his brilliance and his numerous non academic talents. My dearest
Prof. Olu Lafe once said to me that “Tunde is the most brilliant person in the room and he is also the most hardworking.” Imagine that. He just did amazing things.
On my 60th birthday, Prof. Ogunnaike sent me a great birthday wish saying “I have known you forever” to me. I responded in kind. Yes, I knew you before I met you. You were a shining star. Good night, Prof Tunde Ogunnaike.
Brother Tunde’s sudden death is a big shock to us all. He was a big brother to all of us and memories made will never be forgotten. He will be missed for all that he taught us and for all the beautiful moments shared with him. Now he has gone to rest in peace. Let us celebrate his life instead of weeping over his death.
On behalf of the Koiki family, our deepest condolences to the entire Ogunnaike family. We pray that almighty grant us the fortitude to bear the loss. Amen
TRIBUTE TO PROF BABATUNDE OGUNNAIKE (1956- 2022).
Our paths first crossed in 1982 ( though some of us knew you either by reputation or association with your junior brothers at your alma mater,the famous GCI.)
when we were privileged to experience your brilliant and erudite scholarship fresh from your soujourn in America,where you had obtained your PhD from the University of Wisconsin..
You taught us mathematical analysys and modelling and it took only a few lectures for us to realize that even in our star studded department there are stars and there were stars, we all knew that we were on to something special here , your classes were always filled to the brim, and before long you became our mentor and favorite lecturer, you became our natural go to person for career advice, academic advice and even personal advice as we all admired the way you were so we’ll integrated with your wife Anna and the way you fitted all activities into your schedule and you always found room for more, from your clear ,precise almost self explanatory lectures, to your activities with the hockey team,to your guitar playing activities we remember you even released an album ,a collaboration with your wife.
None of us can never forget your contribution to what we have all become today we remember how when you discovered that we had no books for your subject. ( The conditions in the country made importation difficult and you felt the ones available were substandard) you decided to write a textbook “PRINCIPLES OF MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND ANALYSIS” ,and to make the price affordable the book was published in your cursive handwriting,which was so good that the book won numerous awards especially for innovation.
Needless to say , mathematical modelling became the strong point of most of the students in our class..most of us went onto second and third degrees and the role you played in placing a lot of us into institutions abroad will never be forgotten.
Professor Ogunnaike ,we did not have a formal opportunity to say thank you for all you did for us , but I am sure our parents who are also in the great beyond will say thank you to you,
Thank you, thank you and thank you
David Adewunmi Adeyemo (FNSChE)
For and behalf of the
Unilag class of 85
Bros Tunde, l saw him back then when on holidays at Lodge Street Oke Ado, lbadan/ Agbeja Street, since he was older and l came to visit with his younger brothers and with his name always on the newspaper about representing the school, state and country on the field of hockey and cricket and most especially your brilliance in the academic. I am not surprise on how far and well you ascended. But l thank the Lord for many lives you touched and the legacy you left behind. Only sad on how you could have contributed to our great country of NIGERIA, another GIFT of God , gone like that and so many more of us still untapped in the foreign countries. May your soul rest in PEACE!!!
How do we begin to write about Prof Tunde Ogunnaike (Our Egbon)? Prof was the beloved elder brother of our dear brother and friend Seun; an erudite, gentle, and
humble human being whose brilliance shone in his rich scholarly works and in all his endeavors. It was a big shock when Seun called to say Prof had passed on. What a great loss to the world, Africa, and Nigeria in particular. Prof was a great pride and shining light of the Nigerian diaspora. A modest and unassuming gentleman, a rare breed indeed; but he was an Ogunnaike, and it was no surprise that these qualities were so apparent in him. Anyone that knows the Ogunnaikes can testify to these qualities that the late Prof Ogunnaike personified. Our Egbon was an embodiment of what an honorable man and an “Omoluabi” (a person of honor, hard work and integrity),
should be. He was a family man and a great role model; which makes it even more shocking. It is sad that the good ones don’t live too long on this earth. We share in the loss and pain of the Ogunnaike family. Words are not enough to express our pain, our deepest condolences to his dear wife, children and the entire Ogunnaike family. We wish
Prof Ogunnaike Godspeed and may God grant comfort and succor to the family which he left behind.
I knew Prof Tunde Ogunnaike up to fifty years ago when he would come to visit his sister, then Iyabo Ogunnaike (now Iyabo Williams).As a teenager he looked humble and respectful.After our Ile Ife days I lost connection.But the good Lord brought me in touch again with his Sister some years ago..Prof Tunde Ogunnaike’s name came alive again. I heard of him as a brilliant professional in Chemical Engineering.
His accomplishments had been recognized by many in this Country and overseas. His motherland had benefited by letting him lecture students in the University whenever he could go home.
His siblings loved him. He was a great source of pride to Nigeria and Africa. All these accolades would not follow him beyond the grave.
He was a man of faith in Jesus. It enabled him to say, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for thou art with me” He found out that the most important things in life are not things. He choose a good part. His soul salvation was an anchor.I am very proud of this singular accomplishment,securing a home in heaven.Adieu brother Ogunnaike,May God continue to comfort your family.
I pray that his soul Rests In Peace, and that the good work he did would be continued by those he mentored..
I find it difficult to believe that from henceforth, I’ll be referring to Tunde in the past tense. Tunde and I were childhood friends. His mum was my mum’s school mother at United Missionary College (UMC) Ibadan. We also lived in the same neighbourhood (Lodge Street/Olatunde Agbeja Street, Oke-Ado) in the mid 60s to early 70s.
Right from an early age, Tunde had been well focused and it is therefore not a surprise for his incredible achievements. He was a genius and a rare breed. He excelled in all that he laid his hands on. He was specially endowed and empowered by the Almighty God. He was blessed all round. He was among the five people that composed the current Nigerian national anthem.
Though he left us so soon, he had already written his name in gold both locally and internationally. His memories will therefore be timeless treasures.
May God rest his gentle soul in perfect peace. May the Almighty Father also surround his wife, children, grandchildren, sister Iyabo and the rest of the family with peace and comfort during this very difficult time. Amen 🙏.