SEPTEMBER 25, 2023 — Growing up in Nigeria, Olugbenga “Benga” Adeeko did not think he would ever have the opportunity to attend college. To help support his widowed mother, he began working at a state-owned water utility after high school, where he met his future wife, Mojisola “Moji.”
A few years later, he received a scholarship to attend a two-year college in the U.S. The Adeekos went on to attain graduate degrees in business and education respectively. They were married, had three children and made San Antonio their home.
Adeeko began working at UTSA in 1991. He spent 26 of his 30 years working in UTSA Endowment Services, in various roles focusing on the management and growth of endowments as well as overseeing the administration of gifts to the university. For decades, he brought a bright, positive energy to the office, leaving a profound impact on those around him.
Beloved by his colleagues, they surprised him at his retirement celebration in 2021 by establishing an endowment in memory of his parents: the Peter and Comfort Adeeko Memorial International Students Support Endowed Fund. This gift was especially meaningful to him.
“When they presented me with the endowment, I was shocked, moved and very gratified,” Adeeko shared. “They knew my passion for endowments and my strong belief in its lasting impact assisting the university in achieving its educational mission, and the high esteem and love I had and still have for my mother who had passed away. To borrow the words of Bette Midler, she was ‘the wind beneath my wings’ that made me ‘fly high that I can almost touch the sky.’ She was everything to me.”
Soon after, the Adeekos established their own endowment to support international students. It was named in honor of Moji Adeeko’s parents: the Adio and Grace Apatira Memorial International Student Support Endowed Fund.
Before joining the endowment services department, Adeeko was a coordinator for UTSA’s federal student loan program and helped students gain financial assistance to complete their degrees. When he witnessed students receiving endowed scholarships they did not have to pay back, he was inspired to establish his own. Once an international student scholarship recipient himself, he wanted to support other students who come to the U.S. in pursuit of higher education.
Little did he know then that his endowment services colleagues would set up the fund for him.
“I saw many students I helped with loans struggle to pay them back. Anyone who has the ambition to study and better his or her life deserves to be encouraged and supported in their quest to achieve the American dream,” Adeeko said. “Endowments are what I call gifts that keep on giving because they give in perpetuity.”
Through his endowments, Adeeko intends to continue helping current and future students for many years to come, ultimately elevating his endowments to scholarship level.
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