The hosts of NBC’s Today are sending their love to Sheinelle Jones after the unexpected death of her husband, Uche Ojeh. He was 45.
“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 shared during the show’s Friday, May 23, episode. “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.”
Jones, 47, shared her son Kayin, 15, and twins Clara and Uche, 12, with Ojeh. The third hour of Today cohost had been absent from the morning show since December 2024 after announcing via Instagram that she was “taking time to deal with a family health matter.”
“We just want to say Sheinelle, Kayin, little Uche and Clara, 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,” Guthrie, 53, added.
Guthrie noted that her coanchor, Craig Melvin, was “really good friends” with Ojeh. Melvin, 46, went on to recall having conversations about life while playing golf together last fall. “One thing he always talked about, he talked about those kids. He loved those kids more than anything else in this world,” Melvin shared. “[He] was just so proud. He was that dad that was on the sideline at every soccer game, he was at all the concerts and recitals. He was that guy.”
Though Al Roker called Ojeh a “private guy,” he also described him as “wickedly funny.” He added, “He would say things that kind of caught you off guard, but wasn’t braggadocious or anything. He was a very humble man.”
Guthrie went on to share that both Jones and Ojeh were “so strong” through his health battle, while Dylan Dreyer said her colleague was “always smiling” through difficult times thanks to the love of family and friends.
Jenna Bush Hager added that Jones “found the grace in the grief,” and that she and the rest of the Today hosts have been “completely” inspired by her over the past few months.
“What has been remarkable, also, is watching the way with which she has dealt with this, dealing with a husband who’s battling cancer and three young children that she’s had [take care of] by herself for a while now,” Melvin praised. “And every time you would talk to her, she would still find a way to laugh about something.”
Carson Daly recalled being 5 years old when his own father died of cancer and how his “faith in God” helped both him and Jones work through loss. “They have such good faith.”
Guthrie wrapped up the on-air tributes by stating, “Uche had a beautiful, deep, abiding faith every single day of this fight, and you could see it in his eyes. He was an extraordinary person. We love him and we love you, Sheinelle.”
Jones met her husband when she took him on a tour of Northwestern University in the late ‘90s. They dated for eight years before Ojeh popped the question on their alma mater’s campus. They tied the knot in Philadelphia in September 2007 and welcomed Kayin two years later, followed by Uche and Clara in 2012.
Jones broke her silence by reposting her colleagues’ on-air tributes via Instagram on Friday, writing, “Thank you, for all of your love and support ❤️.”
