IN LOVING MEMORY.... HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY IN HEAVEN TO THE TOTAL DEBONNAIRE GENTLEMAN DR. HERBERT WIGWE CFR

DR. HERBERT WIGWE CFR : August 15, 1966  February 9, 2024

By Mike Cerutti Osagie

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."  ~ Jackey Kennedy Onassis, one time America's first lady

                                 ∆

When I first started to dream of running an international standard magazine to be called Richlist,it was Late Dr. Herbert Wigwe  that first  appeared in my thoughts for cover choice. From the very beginning, his name, his story, and his aura defined what excellence in leadership should look like.  

I can’t deny it, I never met him one on one. But I reported on him severally and forwarded stories to his office & later to his whatsap number . Every article I wrote about Access Bank’s growth, every feature on his vision for Africa, felt like a conversation with a man I admired from afar.  

I wanted to interview him live, one on one, and discuss my ambition with him. Through a top lady mutual friend we shared, I reached out. She spoke to him on my behalf. He was so busy with the demands of building a continental bank, but he obliged me to send written questions. That small yes meant everything to me.  

I was determined to use him on the cover. And as God will have it, few days after he sent a reply and agreed to see me live when the magazine was out. He said me and the lady in question could stop by for dinner. In that message, I saw humility, accessibility, and the generosity of a man who had conquered the boardroom but still made time for dreamers.  

Unfortunately, before the magazine could hit the stand, he died in a helicopter crash in California, USA on February 9, 2024. Th

e news broke my heart. The world lost a builder, a visionary, and a father. I lost the mentor and hero I was just about to sit with.  

Today, August 15, 2026, like every other day, I remember his birthday. He would have been 60. I imagine the speeches, the tributes, and the quiet wisdom he would have shared. Even in his absence, his presence fills rooms where leadership is discussed.  

Dr. Wigwe was the total debonnaire gentleman. Debonnaire in carriage, debonnaire in intellect, debonnaire in how he treated people. He carried power without pride, and success without arrogance. That is rare in our time.  

His legacy lives on in ways that still inspire. Access Bank, under the foundation he laid, continues to expand across Africa. His HOW Foundation is touching lives through education, health, and empowerment. And Wigwe University is rising as a testament to his belief that Africa must invest in its own institutions. Both are doing wonders even in death.  

He taught us that banking is not just about money, it is about nation building. That a CEO must also be a philanthropist. That you can be global in ambition and still be rooted in service. Young bankers, entrepreneurs, and students now quote him the way we once quoted our elders.  

I never got the dinner. I never got the one-on-one interview. But I got something more lasting: a blueprint. A blueprint of how to dream big, work hard, and give back. That is the gift Dr. Wigwe left to those of us watching from the sidelines.  

Happy birthday in heaven dear lord of modern day banking, Dr. Wigwe. At 60, your light has not dimmed. It has multiplied. As Emily Dickinson said, "Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality."

• Osagie, a professional wordsmith & Humanitarian sent this piece from his Ikoyi Lagos base

He can be contacted via chiefcerrutti@gmail.com or SMS +234 7042631895