Businesswoman and icon of evangelical Anglicanism in Nigeria, Mrs. Florence Olawunmi Fagboyegun transited into
eternity in the early hours of today at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife.
Mrs. Fagboyegun, a native of Owo, Ondo State, South-West, Nigeria, was born on August 29, 1929 in Kano, in the then northern region, to Mr. and Mrs. Olafimihan. Her father, Olafimihan was one of the few successful Yoruba people in the city.
She was raised by a single mother after her father died when she was barely three years old.
She taught for a brief period before meeting and marrying Johnson Olajide Fagboyegun (later Reverend Canon) in 1951. The union was blessed with children who have become pillars of industry, government and leadership today. A good mother and dutiful wife, late Mrs. Olawunmi Fagboyegun was encouraged by her husband to pursue her textile business passion and investment in choice properties. She supervised the disbursement of funds and payments in the family cocoa and poultry businesses, the J.O.F. ideal family farms limited.
The death of her husband, J.O. Fagboyegun in 2008 led to her gradual withdrawal from public engagements and more devotion to spiritual and core family matters.
The spokesperson for the family, Mr. Dayo Fagboyegun, said that the children of the deceased would meet and make known the burial plans in due course.
According to Dayo Fagboyegun: “Mama Florence Olawumi Fagboyegun passes on at 83
Mama transited into eternity in the early hours of 17 May 2013 at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife.
Born 29 August 1929. Wife of late Rev. Canon (Dr) Johnson Olajide Fagboyegun of blessed memory. She is survived by 30 direct descendants”. Paradoxically, Mrs. Fagboyegun was the only child of her late mother, who died in 2007 at the age of One Hundred and Five.
Mr. Fagboyegun would also want the family to be accorded the privacy the moment required.