Tunde Adeniji was born on Thursday, July 29, 1937, the same day Japanese forces bombed the Chinese Coastal Metropolis of Tianjin, destroying the historic Nankai University.

His parents, lifelong lovers David Oladokun Adeniji and Funmilayo Adeniji, née Ejiwunmi, were both educators. The man in the middle, Tunde was the third of five children with two older sisters, Ebun and Bisi, and two younger brothers, Goke and Niran.

“Papa DO” was a traveling teacher in the Education Department of the Colonial Service, his tenure taking him from Lagos through to Abeokuta, Ondo, Akure, Ilorin, Makurdi and then Lokoja where he retired as Provincial Education Officer.  During these years, the Adeniji children grew up with their cousins, the Ejiwunmis, under the watchful eye of their maternal grandmother, Mrs. Comfort Adeyoola Ejiwunmi at 2 Hughes Avenue, Yaba. There, Tunde grew up with his lifelong elder brother “Cousin Tola” or “Coz T”, the late Justice Akintola Ejiwunmi, JSC, of blessed memory.

Tunde attended primary school at the St. Jude’s School, Ebute Metta under the very strict headmastership of Mr. Sofoluwe, easily one of the best of his time. He spent those early school days with great friends like the Tejuosos, the Soetans and Sogbolas.

He had a fun-filled experience among peers at home and in the community. School, home and church were integral to the total education of the child and Tunde graduated a well-rounded product of this triangular mould. 

In 1951, Tunde moved on to Ibadan Grammar School for his secondary school education where he shone brilliantly, giving full vent to his natural talents. He was a pioneer boarder from his first year; one of those who moved the school from Oke Are Hill to Molete Hill.

By his own account, Ibadan was a whole new world, the city and people were rustic and quaint, right down to the local dialect. Yet Tunde and his young friends from Lagos were not cowed by their strange surroundings. The “Lagos Boys”, as they were called, included Pereira, Pinhero, Tejuoso and several others, and they left no stone unturned in the exploration of the big city which, in turn, opened its wide gates to engulf them for the next six years. 

What an exciting time it was! Tunde was an all-round sportsman, representing his school in football and athletics at the Aionian Games, Grier Cup and Hussey Shield Competitions. He was a star in the Literary and Debating Society of the school and indulged his passion for singing from his early days as a young chorister at All Saints’ Church, Yaba.

Following the successful completion of the West African School Certificate, he worked in the media industry from newspaper and television to film production and advertising.

Tunde won a Western Nigeria scholarship to study filmmaking at the London Film School and the BBC Training School, London. When he returned home, he joined the WNBS/WNTV where he cut his teeth in professional filmmaking.

A complete and consummate filmmaker, he was Assistant Film Director with Ossie Davies on the set that produced the first film adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart” and later “Bullfrog in the Sun”. At Calpenny Films, he was also a member of the crew that shot Wole Soyinka’s “Kongi’s Harvest”. 

He concluded his very busy professional career with a short stint in advertising among his friends Kola Onikoyi, Femi Williams, Tola Olujobi and Johnson Aroloye in the OBM stable after which he retired quietly to his home at Onike, Yaba with his darling wife and love of many years, Victoria Modupeola (née Coker), and children Tejumade and Olaitan “The Heavywind” as well as a host of friends accumulated over the years.

Even in retirement, Tunde kept himself busy consulting semi-professionally while devoting time to social engagements and church activities. He settled back into All Saints’ Church, Yaba, the sanctuary of his youth where he started off as a chorister in the 1940s, serving as Coordinator of the Harvest Singers and Trustee of both the Argonauts Society and Men’s Auxiliary Association. 

For many years he was a member of the great Oluyole Club of Ibadan, Ikoyi Club 1938, Lagos, FF Club, Lagos, and University of Lagos Senior Staff Club, Akoka, his chosen social den for chilling with friends ancient and modern!

Pa Olatunde Adeniji was born into a large clan of loving families across Ibadan, Abeokuta and Lagos. A large-hearted, open-minded and generous man who adored his family, he employed a disciplined lifestyle to build an enduring legacy.

A man for all seasons, he held the stabilizing pillars of the clan with courage, wisdom and grit, traits for which he will be remembered and sorely missed by the entire clan including his wife, children, grandchildren and great grandson.