Sam Jonah Son Dead

Richard Jonah, 38, who was co-founder and executive director of Jonah Capital, reportedly died in his sleep at the hotel.

Early reports said Richard Jonah died of high blood pressure and cardiac related complications.

Richard, the eldest of the Jonah siblings, left behind his parents, brother Andrew and sisters Tamara and Samantha.

The Jonah family had not commented on the development as at the time this report was being filed, but a source revealed that Richard had not been well for the past three weeks and recently fainted while chairing a meeting of one of the several boards he sits on.

He therefore moved from his base in South Africa to London to seek further medical attention last week and was said to be doing well until he was found dead Saturday evening in the hotel room he was lodging.

It is likely Richard died at least 12 hours before his body was found, after several calls to his cell phone were not received.

Ironically, on Friday and Saturday, Richard's father, Sir Sam Jonah, was in Accra attending the funeral of the late BBC Broadcaster, Komla Dumor, who also died in London through cardiac related complications.

While Sir Jonah was mourning the death of Komla last Saturday, he never knew his beloved son, Richard, was also dead and that he had a funeral at hand.

Nana Akufo-Addo, standard bearer of the New Patriotic Party in the 2012 election and Gabby Otchere Darko, former Executive Director of Danquah Institute, a political think tank, paid a visit to Sam Jonah to commiserate with him upon hearing the shocking news in London yesterday.

Meanwhile, Richard's friends from all over the world have expressed condolences on the social media.

One of them, Mike Nii Nortey Oquaye Jnr, lawyer and member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), posted on his Facebook wall: 'RIP. Richard https://www.facebook.com/richard.jonah Jonah. (Son of Sir Sam Jonah). So, sad to hear this. Heartbreak. Life can be so bitter. God help us to understand.'

Richard was described as rather reserved who shied away from public attention.

He holds Bachelors in Economics from Haverford College, Philadelphia and an MBA from Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria.

In 2003, he co-founded Jonah Capital, a Pan African Investment Company with holdings in mining, financial services, agro processing, and infrastructure all across Africa.

Richard also established Mobus Property Developments, a Ghanaian commercial and residential property development company.

He worked with Goldman Sachs on Wall Street as an analyst and the African investment banking team of N.M. Rothschild in London.

He served on the Boards of Jonah Capital, Metropolitan Insurance Ghana, Jonah Mining Zambia, Mobus Property Holdings and Cape Concentrate.

 By Halifax Ansah-Addo ( [email protected] mailto:[email protected] )