Jeremy Joyner White


Jeremy Joyner White was born in Aldershot, England, on 18 May 1938 and died in Lagos, Nigeria on 23 April 1990. His secondary education took place at Wellington College. He went on to study at Cambridge University where in 1959 he obtained a bachelor's degree in History and Modern Languages.
He obtained a doctorate degree in History in 1970 from Nigeria's premier university, the University of Ibadan. His first employment in Nigeria was at the Institute of Administration, University of Ife Ile-Ife, as a lecturer and research fellow. In October 1973, he moved to Lagos having being appointed a lecturer at the Department of History, University of Lagos.
Dr Jeremy White obtained the Nigerian citizenship in 1985. At the time of his death, he was an associate professor at the University of Lagos.

Early life

Dr Jeremy Joyner White was born in Aldershot in the English county of Hampshire, which has strong links to the British army. In fact, its development as a town began when the first military camp was set up there in 1854. The establishment by the government of a large permanent training camp there quickly transformed Aldershot from an agricultural village to a growing town. The majority of those in the town, at some point, were military personnel, and the town eventually became known as the home of the British army. The Whites had their home here in 1938.
Dr Ikechukwu Obiaya, his biographer, states that: “Dr White was the only child of Francis W. J. White and Audrey Mary White. Francis W. J. White, of Irish origin, was a colonel in the British army and was stationed in Aldershot at the time. Audrey Mary White née Raymond, Jeremy's mother, was English, the daughter of an Anglican pastor. Both parents were practicing Anglicans and persons of deep faith as well as of great human and Christian virtues. They gave their son a good education, and it was in this home that Jeremy's natural virtues were formed. He learnt from them a sense of discipline, good human manners, the spirit of temperance and a firm faith in God.”
Although White was born into an Anglican family he converted to the Catholic faith in 1959 after receiving classes of Catholic doctrine at Netherhall House, a residence for students in London placed under the pastoral care of the Prelature of Opus Dei.

An African Educationist

That same year, he went to Nairobi, Kenya to join the foundational teaching staff of Strathmore College – the first inter-racial college in Africa. It was there that he understood that God was calling him to give himself in Opus Dei, seeking sanctity in the midst of the world and filling professional work with God's light and love.
On 20 October 1965 White arrived in Nigeria to start, with others, the apostolic work of Opus Dei. Professor Albert Alos recounts their arrival thus in his book: Sowing the Seed, Personal Memories of the First Ten Years of Opus Dei in Nigeria : “On Wednesday, 20th of October, 1965, Fr. Joseph and Jeremy took an Ethiopian Airlines’ plane in Nairobi that was coming from Dar es Salaam. From its incredible early beginnings in 1945, Ethiopian Airlines had enjoyed the highest prestige and reputation. Fr. Joseph and Jeremy were therefore surprised that the 7.30 am flight was announced to be delayed till 9 am.... They then flew to West Africa and landed in Lagos at 4 pm, where Fr. Joseph and Jeremy left the politicians behind en route to Accra. At the Lagos airport, there was neither a red carpet nor a musical band waiting for them. The airport was full of people, and they heard words in English and in all sorts of Nigerian dialects. They were happy to step on Nigerian soil.... Early in the morning of the 21st they took a taxi to St. Agnes Technical Teaching College where Fr. Joseph celebrated Holy Mass. The taxi driver decided to join Jeremy in attending Mass. From there, they took an 8.30 am flight to Ibadan...”
White and Fr Gabiola were later joined by Fr. Gerard Gutiérrez, Fr. Professor Louis Joachim Munoz, Dr Anthony Guillén Preckler and Professor Albert Alos to start the apostolic work of Opus Dei in Nigeria.

Life in Nigeria

White actively promoted several educational and developmental social projects in Nigeria. He was the pioneer Chairman of Educational Co-operation Society, a registered Nigerian educational charity.
On the registration of ECS, Professor Alos states that: “Jeremy White made several visits and had to wait for hours on end swinging files from desk to desk at the Ministry of Trade. Jeremy’s patience was exemplary. Knowing that he would have to spend time in waiting rooms, he always took a book of philosophy or history to read… On 3 March 1974, Jeremy had an interview with the Attorney General of the Federation. This statutory interview was one of the last steps in the process which during which Jeremy had to defend the aims and purposes of ECS. The journey of the incorporation ended on 21 August 1974 with the registration of ECS”.
ECS with White as chairman saw to the development and building of Helmbridge Study Centre, Lagos; Irawo University Centre, Ibadan and Iroto Rural Development Centre, Ijebu Ode. White's ECS inspired the gestation of Lagos Business School through the Centre for Professional Communications which ran courses for professional men in Helmbridge Study Centre. Professor Alos explains: “these apparently innocuous seminars for professionals were planned solely as a means of professional development. However, it became evident that such a high level of interest in these seminars pointed at a need for management education at a higher level. It would take some years for this germinating interest to mature into LBS”.

Reputation and Legacy

White died in Lagos on 23 April 1990, after a brief illness. Already during his life he enjoyed a reputation for holiness among those who knew him.
According to Professor Albert Alos: "Jeremy was also very open to other people, an aspect of his character that he had learnt from his parents and at school, and which made it easy for him to relate well with everyone. This natural openness became the foundation of a refined charity that developed over the years. He was attentive to the needs of others, and was genuinely interested in the welfare of his friends. I remember him trying to resume contact with students from the east that he had met before the civil war and that were coming back to the university after three years of hardship. Most of them lacked the bare necessities to begin their university studies once more and Jeremy often prudently consulted on ways he could be of help to them. He had a genuine concern for their well being and visited them often."
Another virtue which stood out in him, besides his serenity when faced with difficult situations, was probably his magnanimity; he was not reluctant to take on big tasks.... A good example of this was his readiness to go to another country – an African country for that matter – on an educational endeavour leaving his family and friends behind.
White's biographer, Dr Ikechukwu Obiaya, comments that White's life was outstanding for its ordinariness: "Writing the biography of Jeremy Joyner White has involved for me a process of moving from a handshake to engaging in an arm-wrestle, albeit a gentle one, with Jeremy. The handshake began with trying to respond to the obvious first question: “Who was Jeremy?” Although I had heard quite a bit about Jeremy, I never met him. My discovery of him, therefore, took place through the eyes and experiences of others, and what was most striking was the very high esteem in which everyone seemed to hold Jeremy. He came across as a gentleman, a scholar engaged in the same profession as I. All the accounts presented him as an uncomplicated person, kind and easy going, hardworking and dedicated. However, there was nothing dramatic about Jeremy; his life did not contain any of the extraordinary escapades that the bards have put to song about the exalted characters of history. In trying to answer the question of what was special about Jeremy, his very ordinariness stood out. This was where my arm-wrestling with Jeremy began."
Professor Tunde Agiri, Dr Whites' colleague in the department of History, University of Lagos, states that: " was a Christian humanist – the Opus Dei – who practised the tenets of his Christian faith in his daily living. He devoted his leisure to an improvement of the quality of life of those around him, intellectually, morally and spiritually. Indeed, it is in these respects that I believe White had made his greatest contribution to mankind. It is the legacy he has left for us all."

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