At the start of 2021, we lost one of our longest-serving board members, Patrick Nutor. I am writing on behalf of the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors of Ashesi University, and the Board of Trustees of Ashesi University Foundation, to inform you that the Research and Learning Building will be named Patrick K. Nutor Hall in honor of his service to Ashesi University. The Building embodies all we do here at Ashesi: teaching, learning, and research. It also currently houses offices for our academic leadership team. In this Building, we hope to preserve in perpetuity the legacy of Patrick Nutor, one of only two Lifetime Board Members.
Patrick was one of the first Ghanaians to support the Ashesi University project while it was still a dream, and he was one of the first people I invited to serve on the founding boards of Ashesi University Foundation and Ashesi University, both volunteer roles. He did not hesitate to accept the invitation, and he served as a member of both boards until his death.
In a tribute read at his funeral service, the Board of Directors described Patrick Nutor as “the glue that held generations of Ashesi Board members together. He gave Ashesi University his all and expected nothing in return. It is difficult to know that he will no longer be here, but his legacy will remain with us and with the university he helped steward over the last two decades.”
In the words of Ruth Warren, a Trustee of Ashesi University Foundation, “Patrick Nutor’s passing leaves a hole in the world, and of course, on both Ashesi boards. He was a great guy: insightful and warm, full of great humor, and doggedly persistent when warranted. He connected us, as American board members to the Ghanaian context; he was a bridge between pragmatic realism and Ashesi’s finest dreams.”
Ashesi Co-founder, Nina Marini describes him as “a constant, supporting presence for Ashesi and such a wonderful person.”
He truly was a constant supporting presence and friend, and we will miss him dearly.