Ayoola Akanwo

Ayoola Akanwo, age 85 passed away on May 27, 2020 in Ontario, California. 

There will be a visitation and service on Saturday, October 3, 2020 in Grimes-Akes Family's "Grace Chapel" at 2:00 PM.

Follow the link to access the zoom live feed https://us02web.zoom.us/skype/84852615180. See below for the link to the Facebook page where you can view the service there.

Birth

Chief Ayoola Akanwo was born in Lagos on the 16th of October 1934 into the family of late Chief Oni Akanwo (Baba Ijo Methodist Church Eketedo, Ibadan) and late Mrs Bamidele Akanwo both of Aawe town in Oyo state of South West Nigeria.

Childhood and Academic Life

Chief Akanwo commenced in 1941 his primary education at St Paul’s School, Breadfruit Street Lagos. He would later proceed in 1947 to Ijero Baptist School Ebute Meta, where he obtained in 1949 his Standard Six School Leaving. He was baptized at First Baptist Church Lagos.
Chief Akanwo did his secondary education between 1950 and 1955 at the Baptist Academy, Broad Street Lagos, where he obtained his West African School Certificate. It was upon entering secondary school that Chief Akanwo met and struck a life-long friendship with Chief Adebayo Makinde, the Sagbua of Oyo.  After his secondary school education, Chief Akanwo worked briefly with the Federal Ministry of Information before he decided in 1956 to take the common entrance exams alongside his bosom friend, Chief Makinde, to the School of Pharmacy Yaba, where he was awarded Diploma in Chemist and Druggist in 1959 before eventually becoming a registered Pharmacist on the 3rd of July 1959.

Professional Life

Further to being employed as a junior pharmacist on the 8th of July 1959 by the Ministry of Health of the old Regional Government of Nigeria, Chief Akanwo worked at the General Hospital, Ikeja between 1959 and 1964. However, at various times during this period, he also served as a Relief Pharmacist at Ijebu Ode General Hospital, Ilaro General Hospital, Badagry General Hospital and at the Psychiatric Hospital Aro, Abeokuta. Between 1964 and 1967, Chief Akanwo was transferred as the pharmacist in charge to the General Hospital Badagry but returned in 1964 to the General Hospital Ikeja where he worked as a Senior Pharmacist until 1967, the year he resigned from Government employment.
Chief Akanwo officially joined Jolliters Chemist Ltd, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Lagos with branches respectively in Ibadan and Abeokuta, as Executive Director and, as a result, the Jollitters Chemist Ile-Ife branch was opened in 1970. However, in 2006, Jolliters Chemist was dissolved, as a result of which the Lagos and Ife branches adopted the new name, SATA Pharmacy. The name SATA was coined by combining two letters each from Sagbua and Bobataiyese, the chieftaincy titles respectively bestowed on Chief Adebayo Makinde by Alaafin of Oyo and Chief Ayoola Akanwo by Oba of Ilogbo Eremi.

Family Life

Chief Akanwo got married to Deaconess Comfort Adeduntan Akanwo (nee Adedigba) in January 1962 with whom he was blessed with two children, Mrs Bosede Agbesanwa and Mr Olusoji Akanwo, and four beautiful adorable grandchildren (Ayo, Yemisi, Funminiyi and Omolayomi).
           

Other Life Accomplishments

Chief Akanwo had been a devout Christian of the Baptist denomination from his primary school days. He joined Ebenezer Baptist Church Eleyele Ile Ife in 1970 and was made the church leader five years later when the church had no pastor He was the founder and counsellor of the Royal Ambassador at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Chief Akanwo was a special life-time member of the Bible Society of Nigeria and was honored in 2009 with a merit award in Osun State.
Chief Akanwo was also a chartered member and the president, between 19884 and 1985, of the Ife Lions Club which started in 1982. He was also the founding president of the Gideon International Ile-Ife chapter which also started in 1982.
Chief Akanwo was a seasoned traveler to many parts of the world, including a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1981.
In 1993, Chief Oba Moses Olaleye of Ilogbo Eremi, Badagry in Lagos State bestowed upon the then Mr Ayoola Akanwo the prestigious chieftaincy title, Bobataiyese, which can be loosely translated here as “He who positively impacted a king’s life”.
It was not only a king’s life that Chief Akanwo had positively impacted, however. From the time he began work as a pharmacist in the late 1960s until his death, Chief Akanwo must have accommodated, trained and christened with one nickname or another no less than 100 individuals, who in turn fondly and unreservedly refer to him as Daddy Ife. Dipo Ogungbile, one of the denizens of the famous, populous and ever -bubbling Akanwo’s house at Akintibu Street Eleyele Ile Ife has succinctly captured the accommodating spirt of Chief Akanwo and his wife when he stated in the tribute he posted on his Face Book page as follows: “Jolliters’ house was more than a house, it was a city which raised a lot of generations”.


He is survived by his wife Deaconess Comfort Alake Akanwo; his daughter, Mrs Bosede Agbesanwa;his son, Mr Olusoji Akanwo; his son in law, Reverend Tade Agbesanwa, his daughter in law, Mrs Bisi Akanwo, his grandchildren, Mrs Ayo Odusanya, Yemisi Agbesanwa, Funminiyi Akanwo and Layomi Akanwo; his siblings, Mrs Mojoyinola Fagbenro, Mrs Ouwola Odesanya, Mrs Titilayo Keshinro, Mr Agboola Akanwo, Mr Bolaji Akanwo, Mr Sunday Akanwo and Mr Lekan Akanwo; and numerous denizens of his house.
May the kind, humble and gentle spirt of Chief Ayoola Akanwo rest in perfect peace.

Arrangements Entrusted To The Care of

Grimes-Akes Family Funeral Home 500 West 7th Street,  Corona, California.

~ FD818 ~ (951)737-3771 ~ www.akesfamilyfuneralhome.com ~

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