‘Today’ Show Co-Host Sheinelle Jones’ Husband Uche Ojeh Dead at 45

Today show co-host Sheinelle Jones’ husband of 17 years, Uche Ojeh, has died following a battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer. He was 45.

Savannah Guthrie, Jones’ co-host on the NBC program, shared the devastating news during Friday’s broadcast amid Jones’ extended absence from the talk show.

“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,” Guthrie said. “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.”

It’s unclear when Ojeh was diagnosed with cancer, but sources told the New York Post that he put up a “brave fight.” He’d reportedly been in hospice care up until his passing.

Jones, 47, and Ojeh first met while attending Northwestern University in the late ‘90s and eventually sparked romance. They tied the knot in Philadelphia on Sept. 1, 2007, and went on to welcome three children together – Kayin, 14, and fraternal twins Clara and Uche, 12.

Ojeh was a managing partner at UAO Consulting, per his LinkedIn profile. Jones, meanwhile, joined Today in 2014 as a part-time host, before becoming a co-host of the third hour in 2019. She has been absent from the NBC show since mid-December, Jones revealing in a message to fans in January that she stepped away due to “a family health matter.”

“Hi everybody….I sincerely appreciate all of you who have reached out while I’ve been absent from the show. I want to share with you that I’m taking time to deal with a family health matter,” she wrote. “It’s not lost on me how lucky I am to have not on the support of my Today show family, but to also have all of you. Your kindness means so much to me. I’ll see you soon.”

Jones hasn’t returned to the program since, but her colleagues shared occasional updates over the past few months. In April, Craig Melvin told viewers that Jones was “taking some time to be with her family and we talk to her all the time.” Dylan Dreyer added, “She misses being here. She wishes she was here with us, but she’s doing what she needs to do.” Al Roker told audiences that they were “praying for her.”

In May, Dreyer told E! News that Jones was “doing all right. She’s hanging in there. We’re praying for her and her family. You know, she’s just going through a tough time with her family.”