Kenyan Scholar Awaited Homecoming Sadly Ends in Sudden Death

A top Kenyan scholar in control systems engineering, machine learning and artificial intelligence, Prof Henry Okola Nyongesa, who has been teaching and serving as an external examiner in various leading universities in England, South Africa, and Kenya, has died in Nairobi following a short illness.
 
Prof Nyongesa, whose death, a postmortem examination has confirmed, was caused by a heart attack, was one of the most outstanding African researchers and scholars internationally. 
 
Until his sudden death, the professor, who was in his early 60s, served as a university academic and technology consultant research lead in Paris, and at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri County, specialising in Artificial Intelligence and cutting edge research. He is credited with helping to establish the engineering faculty at Dedan Kimathi University.
 
Prof Nyongesa obtained his PhD in the United Kingdom from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Control Engineering, where he conducted his research and postdoctoral work in the same department.

After attaining his PhD, he moved to Brunell University, also in the UK as senior researcher, lecturer and supervisor of PhD students. He supervised numerous doctorate students in specialised topics in computing and smart systems. 

 
He then moved to Africa as a research and development scholar, working in Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia.

As his research reputation gained credence globally, he returned to Sheffield Hallam University, South Yorkshire, England, to further develop newer technological advances, including in machine learning; artificial intelligence and much more.

At the University of Western Cape, South Africa, he was a professor of Computer Science and Systems Engineering. He also undertook some research and consultancy appointments at the University of Namibia.

Prof Nyongesa, who arrived in Nairobi on Saturday, 4th December, from the UK, fell ill passed away on Monday, 6th December. A postmortem examination confirmed that the cause of death was a heart attack. He had been suffering from diabetes.

The towering Kenyan academic received his BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Aston University in Birmingham, England, a MSc in Electronics from the Kings College of the University of London and a PhD in Automatic Control and Systems Engineering from University of Sheffield.

During his stellar academic career, he published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and conferences, and received research grants from notable organisations, including Microsoft Research (USA), National Research Foundation (South Africa) and Flanders Scientific Research Organisation (FWO), Belgium.

He began his education journey at Bujwanga Primary School in Samia, Busia County, in the mid-1960s. He then went to Butula High School, also in Busia, in the early 1970s, before joining Nyeri High School and going to university in the United Kingdom.

Prof Nyongesa was one of the most outstanding African scholar‬s in engineering and computing. His career both as a researcher, educator and as an academic spanned across several countries and continents. He was an international technology consultant in artificial intelligence and cutting edge research.

He is survived by his wife Susan, sons John and Robert, and daughter Ella, who all live and work in England.