Today cohost Sheinelle Jones was married to her college sweetheart, Uche Ojeh, for nearly two decades before he died in May 2025.
“With profound sadness, we share this morning that Uche Ojeh, the husband of our dear friend and Today cohost Sheinelle Jones, has passed away after a courageous battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma,” Savannah Guthrie said during the show’s Friday, May 23, broadcast. “There are no words for the pain that we feel for Sheinelle and their three young children. Uche was an incredible person. We all loved him.”
She added, “We just want to say [to] the Ojeh family, we are with you. We love you. You are our family and we are just sending all of our love to you right now.”
In addition to Jones, Ojeh, who was 45, is survived by their son Kayin, 15, and twins Clara and Uche, 12.
Keep scrolling to learn more about Ojeh’s legacy:
Sheinelle Jones Pretended to Be a College Tour Guide to Meet Uche OjehDuring Jones’ first year at Northwestern University in Chicago, she met Ojeh when he was visiting the campus during his last year of high school.
“I was a fake tour guide … I was just walking to class,” Jones joked to Northwestern’s alumni magazine in 2024. “[I was like, ‘Are you guys lost?’ I told him I would take him around because he was cute. I was like, ‘This is the Black House. … This is the Plex [Foster-Walker Complex], and if you need real tidbits, I’m probably not the one.’”
Ojeh ultimately opted to attend Northwestern, too, studying computer science and economics. He graduated in 2001, later returning to the school to propose to Jones. They got married in 2007.
Uche Ojeh Worked as a ConsultantAccording to Ojeh’s LinkedIn page, he served as a Managing Partner for UAO Consulting. He previously worked for IBM and Accenture.
Uche Ojeh Was a Proud Dad
Jones and Ojeh shared three children. In a tribute on Today, cohost Craig Melvin reflected on watching his late friend as a parent.
“One thing he always talked about — he talked about those kids. He loved those kids more than anything else in this world, and was just so proud,” Melvin said. “He was that dad who was on the sidelines at every soccer game. He was at all the concerts, the recitals. He was that guy, and they had such a beautiful love story.”
Jones congratulated her husband for running his first triathlon race.
“I think it’s so important to celebrate the wins of the people you love — this weekend it was all about ‘The Uche’s,’” Jones wrote via Instagram in October 2023. “My youngest son’s soccer team took first in their tournament. Meanwhile dad a.k.a. big Uche — conquered a triathlon. It’s something he’s always wanted to do …. and he trained really hard for it. I’ve watched both of them, day in and day out, running and kicking balls all over the place. It all paid off.”
She continued, “The rest of us in the house (me, Kayin & Clara) are super proud of them.”
Five months after Jones took a sabbatical from her Today duties following an undisclosed family matter, her colleagues revealed in May 2025 that Ojeh died at age 45.
According to Guthrie, Ojeh had navigated a “courageous battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, glioblastoma starts when cancerous cells grow in the brain or spinal cord. It can spread quickly, destroying healthy tissue in the process.
