Olorogun Oskar Ibru, billionaire Nigerian industrialist, dies at 67

Oskar Ibru, one of Africa's most ardent champions, died Sept. 24 after a brief illness, his family announced Wednesday. He was 67.

- By FRANKIE EDOZIEN Special to the AmNews

Oskar Ibru with his wife, Wanda Ibru. Oskar Ibru with first granddaughter Sloane. Oskar Ibru with Elinor Tatum, Nicole Peoples and Christine White.

The billionaire industrialist served as chairman of the Ibru Organization, one of the largest conglomerates on the continent.

Olorogun Oskar Eyovbirere C. J. Ibru was born in 1958, a son of the late Olorogun Michael Ibru, who founded the Ibru Organization, which has interests in shipping, media, oil and gas, hospitality and commerce.

Ibru attended Nigeria's prestigious Igbobi College in Lagos where he participated in various sports, including football, table tennis, cricket, and hockey, as well as high jump. He remained an athlete for decades. For his tertiary education he went to the United States for undergraduate studies at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, where he met Wanda Swann, whom he later married. He then went on to Atlanta University Graduate School of Business for his master's degree.

Ibru returned to the family organization in 1983, working in various positions at Nigeria's Guardian newspaper, as a management trainee, then at a shipping line, and in various other capacities before rising to helm the entire organization as group chairman.