News have already spread around and abroad that Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore is dead.
Collymore, who had a long battle with cancer, died on Monday morning at his Kitsuru residence in Nairobi, according to a statement from Safaricom chairman Nicholas Nganga.
In October 2017, Collymore took a medical leave to seek treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia in London and resumed work in July 2018.
Upon return to the country, the Guyanese-born British citizen had an interview with renowned journalist Jackson Biko and it was during the conversation he opened up about his perception of mortality.
In an interview at his home in August 2018, Collymore revealed that after he was diagnosed with cancer he started thinking more about death, but noted he did not acknowledge it.
"Death is inevitable and I have made the decision not to cling on the thought of it because it will eventually come; I just do not know when," he said.
"I have chosen to focus on the things that are more important to me. Now I know it’s kind of impossible for somebody to live for 200 years," added the father of four.
Collymore said although death was inevitable, the fear of it was more constant in the minds of cancer patients, unlike in cancer-free individuals.
"But something very important is that when you have cancer the idea of death is near, and so it doesn’t surprise unlike you who is healthy, but death could be coming in the next minute or tomorrow morning," he stated.
Asked whether his new perception about mortality changed how he conducted his business, Collymore replied: "To some extent it has. It has allowed me to let more people manage me. It’s made us focus on the things that are important because not everything is important, not all arguments are important."
He was survived by his wife, Wambui Kamiru Collymore, and four children.