Prof. Ogunnaike was born on March 26, 1956, and hailed from Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State.
A notable Nigerian educationist and publisher, Gbenro Adegbola, confirmed his death.
According to Adegbola, Ogunnaike emerged as one of five, whose words and phrases were combined to form the anthem.
The others were: John A. Ilechukwu, Eme Etim Akpan, Sota Omoigui, and P.O. Aderibigbe.
Ogunnaike attended the University of Lagos for his bachelor’s degree, graduating with First Class Honours in chemical engineering in 1976.
He furthered his studies and earned an M.Sc. degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering also from the same university in 1981.
Ogunnaike was a research engineer with the process control group of the Shell Development Corporation in Houston, Texas from 1981 to 1982.
He worked as a researcher for DuPont and was also a consultant to several companies including Gore, PPG Industries, and Corning Inc.
He joined the faculty of the University of Delaware in 2002 and was appointed to the William L. Friend Professorship of Chemical Engineering in 2008.
Ogunnaike acted as interim Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware beginning in July 2011 and was named Dean of the College of Engineering effective July 1, 2013.
He retired as Dean on October 1, 2018, but remained on the faculty.
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