Ohadike was among the best and most productive scholars of his generation in the field of African history and more specifically West African history. In the field of African and Diaspora history, Ohadike represented the uncommon combination of an active scholar, a committed teacher and a good citizen of the university and the profession. Above all he was a very fine human being. This combination enabled him to pursue new paths of exploration and analysis in the research and teaching of African and African Diaspora history. He was impressive in the range of his work and the depth of his knowledge of African history. His scholarly work covered several areas including slavery in Africa; anti-slavery and anti-colonial resistance movements in Africa and the African Diaspora; disease, epidemiology and food security in Africa; and Nigerian history.

Ohadike authored several books and articles in scholarly journals. His published books include: The Ekumeku Movement: Western Igbo Resistance to the British Conquest of Nigeria, 1883-1914 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1991), Anioma: A Social History of the Western Igbo People (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1994), and Pan-African Culture of Resistance: A History of Liberation Movements in Africa and the Diaspora, (Binghamton: Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, 2002). He also completed a manuscript on resistance movements in Africa and the African Diaspora, tentatively called The Sacred Drums of Liberation: Religions and Music of Resistance in Africa and the Diaspora. He was working on the manuscript just a few days before his passing. A clear indication of Ohadike’s highly regarded status in the field of Igbo history and culture was the invitation by Heinemann, the original publishers of the famous African Writers Series, to write the introduction to Chinua Achebe's masterpiece Things Fall Apart, which he did for its 1996 edition.

Don Ohadike was an outstanding and exemplary teacher. His commitment to teaching and to bridging his scholarship and practice in the classroom was clearly illuminated in the record of highly innovative courses that he taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels. All the courses he taught embodied his philosophy of bridging his research and teaching. His course on African Cultures and Civilizations, which he taught for 14 years, attracted more than 100 students per semester. Ohadike was known as a great storyteller and students often left his classroom with smiles on their faces. Over the years Ohadike had gained the reputation among his former students as a passionate, compelling teacher and a highly respected mentor.

In Igbo society, a person’s greatness is measured by earned titles and by a concurrence reached with the guardian spirit called chi. Ohadike had them both; he was indeed a great person with many accomplished and well deserved titles. In Ohadike’s passing, the Africana Center and Cornell University as well as the Ithaca community that he wholeheartedly embraced have certainly lost an extremely generous colleague and a very wonderful human being. His memory is going to stay with us for a long time to come.

Don Ohadike was born on October 4, 1941 in the city of Jos in Plateau State, Nigeria. He is survived by two daughters, Ophelia Ohadike of Washington, D.C., and Sandra Ohadike, of Silver Springs, Maryland, and two sons, James Ohadike, of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Azuka Ohadike, of Lagos, Nigeria, and wife Veronica Ohadike, and five grand children.

Calling hours for Don Ohadike were held on
Friday, September 2, 2005
from 5: 00–8:00 p.m.
at the Herson Funeral Home,
110 South Geneva Street,
Ithaca, N.Y.

Funeral services was on
Saturday, September 3, 2005
at 11:00 a.m.
at St. Paul's United Methodist Church,
402 North Aurora Street,
with the Reverend Kenneth I. Clarke, Sr., Director of Cornell United Religious Work, officiating.

Burial was in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery, followed by a reception from 3:00–5:00 p.m. at the Africana Studies & Research Center, Cornell University, 310 Triphammer Road, Ithaca, NY.