Kayode Owens Memorial Fund

It is with a heavy heart that we share that our dear friend, classmate and teammate, Kayode Owens, passed away on August 30th from cancer. In typical Yode fashion, he fought until the end but, unfortunately, faced a very aggressive cancer that was diagnosed at too advanced of a stage. Yode kept this fight private, and we know many of his close friends were shocked, and deeply saddened, by this news. Up until his last days, Yode was working to secure a future for his recently launched venture capital fund, Unseen Capital, and planning for his family. He is survived by his wife, Kim, and four children - Gio who is 19, his daughters, Kiana and Isabella, and his youngest Nico who is 5 years old.

 

To know Yode was to love him immensely. He had an incredibly generous and kind spirit and was the kind of person who believed in you even when you didn’t believe in yourself.  He was always trying to be helpful because he loved to see his friends win, and he never asked for anything in return. I’m sure all of us have wonderful examples of Yode’s generosity and spirit from school, football, work and friendship.

 

Now though, we have a chance to give something back to him by supporting his family. Yode has a big and vibrant family whom he loved and supported passionately.  His last worries were how he could ensure that they get the continued love and support that he would have provided. As three of his close friends, representing so many others, we promised him we would do everything we could to help - just as we know Yode would have done for us. One aspect of that is financial help. We have established a GoFundMe account to provide some assistance to Yode’s family. While we discussed other ideas to honor Yode, like a scholarship fund, or donations to causes he cared deeply about, we believe that what would be most meaningful to Yode is to know his family is provided for. So please, if you can, consider a contribution.

 

We all will miss Yode immensely, and will hold tightly to our many fond memories of him. We know our lives are richer because we were lucky enough to be his friends and know he lives on through the impact he had on each of us. Thank you for being a vital part of his life and participating in the ongoing mission to support his family.

 

Mike Cohen, Bangaly Kaba and Josh Smiley