‘Today’ Co-Host Sheinelle Jones’ Husband Uche Ojeh Dies at 45 of Brain Cancer

Uche Ojeh, the husband of NBC Today co-anchor Sheinelle Jones, has died at age 45 after battling an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The news was announced on the NBC morning show Friday.

“With profound sadness, we share this morning that Uche Ojeh, the husband of our friend and Today co-host Sheinelle Jones, has passed away after a courageous battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma,” Savannah Guthrie said on the program. “There are no words for the pain we feel for Sheinelle and their three young children. Uche was an incredible person. We all loved him. And so we want to take a moment to tell you more about the remarkable man who was Sheinelle’s perfect partner in life.”

Ojeh was 45 years old, and leaves behind Jones and their three children. He had been a consultant with UAO Consulting for more than a decade. In a conversation on the program after announcing the heartbreaking news, Today co-anchor Craig Melvin shared that he last played golf with Ojeh last fall.

“We had a number of conversations about just life in general,” Melvin recalled. “And 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. He was that dad that was on the sideline every soccer game. He was at all the concerts and the recitals. He was that guy.”

Jones has been on a leave of absence from the NBC morning show since December, and said in January that she was taking leave to deal with a family health matter.

Jones has been with the Today show for more than a decade, joining the morning program’s weekend edition in 2014. She was named co-host of the show’s third hour in 2019, where she worked alongside Dylan Dreyer, Craig Melvin and other talent from the program and NBC News.

Jones married Ojeh in 2007 after meeting at Northwestern University, where Jones was a freshman giving tours and Ojeh was a visiting high school senior. Ojeh proposed on the school’s campus.