Mark Nwagwu @88: Celebrating a life of science, poetry, purpose

By Editor

IN a world that often forces us to choose — between science or art, career or love, retirement or relevance — Professor Mark Nwagwu has spent 88 rich years defying that logic. Today, we celebrate not just the age of a man, but the agelessness of his mind and spirit.

Born on May 17, 1937, in the quiet town of Obetiti, Nguru in Aboh Mbaise, Imo State, Nwagwu’s life began like many others: with a humble thirst for knowledge. That thirst would take him across oceans, through the rigours of science, and into the delicate universe of poetry — with the same fervour.

From Christ the King School in Aba to St. Patrick’s College, Calabar, the young Nwagwu showed signs of brilliance. He studied Zoology at University College, Ibadan, earning his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees through the University of London. Then came his doctorate in Zoology from Stockholm University in 1965 — a major feat for a young Nigerian scientist at the time. And yet, that was just the beginning.

At the University of Connecticut, his post-doctoral work on myosin messenger RNA placed him at the frontier of molecular biology. By 1969, he was teaching at Brock University, Canada, climbing from Assistant to Associate Professor. But something deeper called him home. In the 1970s, he returned to Nigeria, joining the University of Ibadan, where he rose to become a Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology — a position he held until his retirement in 2002. He would later be inducted into the prestigious Nigerian Academy of Science.

But if you think Professor Nwagwu’s story is only that of a scientist, you’d be missing the heart of it. For behind the microscope was a man with a pen — and a soul that burned for love and beauty. His poetry — lyrical, tender, and achingly sincere — often revolved around his beloved wife, Helen, herself a brilliant professor. Her death in 2016 did not still his pen; it sharpened it.

He wrote Helen Not-of-Troy (2009) — a collection drenched in love and memory, not of mythology, but of lived devotion. Cat Man Dew (2012), HelenaVenus (2013) and Time Came Upon Me and Other Poems (2019) — each one a chapter in a love story that continues beyond death.

His novels, too, echo the mind of a thinker unafraid to confront truth and imagination — from My Eyes Dance, Forever Chimes to I Am Kagara, he asks what it means to live, to hurt, to hope.

And just when you think the curtain might be closing — at 86, Professor Nwagwu quietly enrolled for a second Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Ibadan. Yes, at 86. The same man who once unlocked the codes of proteins now seeks to decode cultures, returning to the classroom not as a legend, but as student. He plans to finish by 90.

Who does that? Who dreams new dreams at 86 Professor Mark Nwagwu does!

Prof. Mark Nwagwu

He is not merely a man of the lab or the library. In 2000, he founded the Youth and Enterprise Initiative, mentoring and encouraging young Nigerians to aim higher. On Facebook, he continues to reflect on politics, life, culture — and Helen — writing with a warmth that draws the young and old alike.

At 88, he is not slowing down. He is showing up.

He is proof that science and poetry are not opposites. That love and intellect belong in the same breath. That to age is not to shrink but to expand — in grace, in thought, in courage.

So, we say: Happy Birthday, Prof. Mark Nwagwu. You are not just aging — you are deepening.

You are not a relic of a past era. You are a reminder of what is possible.

Here’s to the professor who taught molecules how to speak — and taught us that the heart can still sing.

#IgboNwereMmadu
#CentreForMemories  …
#Maka Unyaa,
#Taa na Echi