‘Today' Co-Host Sheinelle Jones' Husband Uche Ojeh Dies at 45 of Brain Cancer
The news was announced on the NBC morning show Friday.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
NBC Bringing Back Gold Zone for 2026 Winter Olympics, Scott Hanson to Return as Host
NBC Eyes Game Show 'Win Win' That Gives Viewers a Stake in the Action
Ahead of His 'Nightly News' Debut, NBC News Is Ready to Reintroduce Tom Llamas (Exclusive)
'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,' Savannah Guthrie said on the program. '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.'
Ojeh was 45 years old, and leaves behind Jones and their three children. He had been a consultant with UAO Consulting for more than a decade. In a conversation on the program after announcing the heartbreaking news, Today co-anchor Craig Melvin shared that he last played golf with Ojeh last fall.
'We had a number of conversations about just life in general,' Melvin recalled. 'And one thing he always talked about, he talked about those kids. He loved those kids more than anything else in this world, and was just so proud. He was that dad that was on the sideline every soccer game. He was at all the concerts and the recitals. He was that guy.'
Jones has been on a leave of absence from the NBC morning show since December, and said in January that she was taking leave to deal with a family health matter.
Jones has been with the Today show for more than a decade, joining the morning program's weekend edition in 2014. She was named co-host of the show's third hour in 2019, where she worked alongside Dylan Dreyer, Craig Melvin and other talent from the program and NBC News.
Jones married Ojeh in 2007 after meeting at Northwestern University, where Jones was a freshman giving tours and Ojeh was a visiting high school senior. Ojeh proposed on the school's campus.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series
22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History
A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
3 hours ago
- Newsweek
Report: Steelers Tight End Feared to Have Season-Ending Injury
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into the 2025 NFL season. With Aaron Rodgers now the team's starting quarterback and the other aggressive offseason moves the team made, the Steelers are expected to be a Super Bowl contender. While the team also expects to be a contender, there are still questions that need to be answered. Can Rodgers get back to being a superstar for Pittsburgh? Do the Steelers have enough weapons at wide receiver for him? Will the defense be able to slow down the other elite offenses around the NFL? Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers looks on during the Pittsburgh Steelers OTA offseason workout at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on June 6 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Head coach Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers looks on during the Pittsburgh Steelers OTA offseason workout at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on June 6 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo byOutside of Rodgers, the front office brought in stars like Jalen Ramsey and DK Metcalf. Jonnu Smith was also acquired in the Ramsey trade. T.J. Watt received a major contract extension as well. Read more: Bills' Josh Allen Sends Clear Message on What Drives Him This Season Unfortunately, Pittsburgh might have suffered a season-ending injury during training camp. According to a report from Nick Farabaugh of Penn Live, rookie tight end and fullback DJ Thomas-Jones is feared to have torn his Achilles during Sundy's practice. "Thomas-Jones was seen getting his left foot or ankle looked at, and he had his shoe off," Farabaugh wrote. "Whenever he moved, he could not put any weight on his left leg. He was carted off the field and did not return." Thomas-Jones, who was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent following the 2025 NFL Draft, was a player the team was high on. Sadly, his season could be over before it even begins. During his senior season for South Alabama, Thomas-Jones caught 22 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns. He caught 27 passes for 235 yards and five touchdowns in 2023. Read more: Report: Denver Broncos Suffer Brutal Injury News During Training Camp Pittsburgh should be just fine at the tight end position despite the injury to Thomas-Jones. The Steelers have both Pat Freiermuth and Smith at the position. Rodgers will still have two elite tight ends to work with during the 2025 season. Hopefully, if the injury is a torn Achilles, Thomas-Jones will be able to make a quick and full recovery with no setbacks. He has clearly made enough of an impact early on for Pittsburgh to be excited about his future. Expect to hear an official report about Thomas-Jones in the near future. For more on the Pittsburgh Steelers and general NFL news, head over to Newsweek Sports.
NBC Sports
4 hours ago
- NBC Sports
PFT Live returns for another season on Monday
We're back. baby. On Monday, the six-week hiatus is over. PFT Live returns. Yeah, I did 28 episodes of #PFTPM during the 'break.' But that was solo. Chris Simms returns for the full, two-hour adventure. We'll be in our usual habitats on Monday and Tuesday. For Wednesday and Thursday, we'll be in Canton, in advance of NBC's coverage of the Hall of Fame game. PFT Live has been around, in one form or another, since January 2011. The two-hour, Simms-as-the-primary-co-host version enters its ninth season. Our primary locations are Peacock (live and on-demand) and SiriusXM 85. Also, the show will be televised on SkySports Mix on Monday at 6:00 p.m. UK/Ireland time. (I'm not sue how long that will last. I am sure I'll be asked that question many times in the coming days and weeks via email.) Beyond the primary channels for consuming the show, every episode is available as a podcast, and select clips land on YouTube and/or as videos tied to PFT posts. Thanks for reading the content here. Thanks for taking in the #PFTPM non-vacation vacation content. And thanks for checking us out as we return with PFT Live on Monday morning.
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Tom Lehrer, musical satirist, dies at 97
Tom Lehrer, an acerbic songwriter and Harvard-trained mathematician who rose to fame in the 1950s and '60s by pillorying the sensibilities of the day, has died at age 97. Lehrer died at his home in Cambridge, Mass., on Saturday. His death was confirmed by friends on Facebook. No cause of death was given. The bespectacled Lehrer began performing on college campuses and clubs across the country in the 1950s, playing the piano and singing darkly comedic numbers that he penned on topics such as racial conflict, the Catholic Church and militarism, earning him the sobriquet of 'musical nerd god.' In 'National Brotherhood Week,' which lampooned the brief interlude of imposed tolerance celebrated annually from the 1930s through the early 2000s he wrote: Oh, the white folks hate the black folksand the black folks hate the white folks,to hate all but the right folks is an old established rule …But during National Brotherhood Week (National Brotherhood Week),Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to fun to eulogizeThe people you despise,As long as you don't let 'em into your school. Lehrer's songs also took aim at then-taboo subjects such as sexuality, pornography and addiction. In 1953, his self-released album 'Songs of Tom Lehrer' became an underground hit. Produced for $40 and promoted by word of mouth, the cover image was of Lehrer in hell playing piano as the devil. It eventually sold an estimated 500,000 copies and sparked demand for concert performances around the world. During the mid-1960s, Lehrer contributed several songs to the satirical NBC news show 'That Was the Week That Was,' hosted by David Frost. The show inspired Lehrer's third album, 'That Was the Year That Was.' Released in 1965, it reached the 18th spot on American music charts. On the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2018, Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote that Lehrer's lyrics were written 'with the facility of William S. Gilbert and tunes that evoked the felicity of Sir Arthur Sullivan. Lehrer's work bounced the absurdities and paranoias of that period back at us, in rhymed couplets and a bouncy piano beat.' Thomas Andrew Lehrer was born in New York City on April 9, 1928, to a middle-class family. His father James Lehrer was a successful necktie manufacturer. As a child he took piano lessons but preferred Broadway show tunes — with a particular affection for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan — to the classics. After entering Harvard University at age 15, his penchant for sardonic humor surfaced in his parody song 'Fight Fiercely Harvard,' which challenged the football team's reputation for toughness and earned him a measure of renown on campus. For a time he followed a dual track, music and academia, though he never completed the PhD thesis he began while pursuing doctoral studies at Harvard and Columbia University. After a two-year break between 1955 and 1957 when he served in the Army, Lehrer once again performed concerts across the U.S., Canada and Europe. In a 1959 Time article, the magazine described Lehrer and fellow comedians Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl as the symbols of a new 'sick' comedy. 'What the sickniks dispense is partly social criticism liberally laced with cyanide, partly a Charles Addams kind of jolly ghoulishness, and partly a personal and highly disturbing hostility toward all the world.' Lehrer's work opened the door for generations of musical satirists including Randy Newman and 'Weird Al' Yankovic and exerted an influence on everything from the musical skits of 'Saturday Night Live' to the mockumentary 'This Is Spinal Tap.' 'He set the bar for me — and provided an example of how a nerdy kid with a weird sense of humor could find his way in the world,' Yankovic once said of Lehrer. 'Done right, social criticism set to a catchy tune always makes politics easier to digest,' Lizz Winstead, co-creator of 'The Daily Show,' told Buzzfeed in an article examining Lehrer's influence on modern satirical comedy. But Lehrer was first and foremost an academic, over the course of his career teaching math and musical theater at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Santa Cruz and working for a time at the Atomic Energy Commission. He viewed entertainment largely as a sideline, and by the late 1960s had grown weary of life in the public eye. After several pauses to focus on his academic pursuits, he stepped off the stage in 1967 following a concert in Copenhagen. In 1971, he wrote songs for the PBS children's series 'The Electric Company.' His last turn in the spotlight was a year later. After performing at a presidential campaign rally for the Democratic nominee, South Dakota Sen. George S. McGovern, he gave up performing for good. Lehrer explained his retreat from the stage by saying that 'political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.' In an interview with the New York Times, he elaborated: 'The Vietnam War is what changed it. Everybody got earnest. My purpose was to make people laugh and not applaud. If the audience applauds, they're just showing they agree with me.' But audiences were not through with Lehrer. After nearly a decade in self-imposed exile, Lehrer became a hit once again in the early 1980s when Cameron Mackintosh, the British theatrical producer, created 'Tomfoolery,' a revue of Lehrer's songs that opened in London's West End before going to to play New York, Washington, Dublin and other cities. Despite the public acclaim, Lehrer maintained a fiercely private life. He never married nor did he have children. In 2020, Lehrer announced through his website that he was making all of the lyrics he wrote available to download for free without further permission, whether or not they were published or retained a copyright. Two years later he went further in relinquishing his rights, saying: 'In short, I no longer retain any rights to any of my songs. So help yourselves, and don't send me any money.'
