Shock as eminent historian, Ade-Ajayi, dies at 85

Eminent historian and former vice-chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Emeritus Professor J.F Ade-Ajayi, is dead.  Ade-Ajayi, who marked his 85th birthday with pomp and ceremony on May 27, this year, died of age-related illness.

A source closed to the deceased’s family told Daily Sun that the renowned scholar died at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where he was on admission around 7.30p.m on Sunday. He was survived by his wife, Christy, and children.  A member of the Ibadan School of History, Ade-Ajayi was Dean, Faculty of Arts and a deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Ibadan, which service he joined upon his return from overseas study in the 60s before he was appointed UNILAG vice-chancellor in 1972.


Reacting to the passage of the renowned historian yesterday, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, described Ade-Ajayi as an intellectual colossus and fountain of knowledge, who blazed the trail in establishing the validity of African history as an academic discipline. Also reacting to his death, former Head, Department of History, University of Ibadan, Prof Tayo Adesina, described the late historian as ‘a phenomenon,’ and  lamented that Nigeria, indeed Africa, has lost ‘a profound historian.’