John Kwame Otieku, 64, Dies In Syracuse, New York

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

Atumpan News Agency

The death of Mr. John Kwame Otieku was reported on Thursday, August 14, 2014 in Syracuse, New York. He was 64 years old, and the cause of death, according to Mr. Omar Otieku, a son of the deceased, was complications from a heart attack.

Born in Kyebi, Ghana, on January 14, 1950, Mr. Otieku attended the local schools in Kyebi township before proceeding to the Ofori-Panin Secondary School, Akyem-Tafo, where he was a member of the 1967 table-tennis team that won the Eastern Regional Championship. He also won a gold medal in table tennis in the 1969 National Day Games in Accra (Doubles).

Shortly after graduating from the Accra Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Otieku left Ghana for the United States to attend Boston, Massachusetts’s Northeastern University on an academic scholarship in 1971 and graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He would be recruited to work with General Electric; his division of GE would be later acquired by Lockheed Martin, the airplane parts manufacturer, where he would continue to work for 32 years until his early retirement in 2010 as a Subcontract Manager.

Funeral arrangements are as follows: There will be a wake and viewing at the Burns Garfield Funeral Home at 3175 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY, on Friday, September 12 from 4pm-7pm. A memorial service will take place from 8 am to 11am at the Liverpool First Methodist Church, 604 Oswego Street, Liverpool, NY, on Saturday, September 13, followed by burial at the Oakwood Cemetery. There will also be a post-burial reception and final funeral rites at the Martha Eddy Hall Art & Home Center, New York State Fairgrounds.

Mr. Otieku is survived by his wife of 31 years, the former Ms. Juanita Byrd, two sons, Nana Yaw and Omar, three grandchildren and a host of extended family members and a vast network of friends and associates.