The final funeral rites of Pastor Professor Jacob Jonas Nii Klu Nortey, the founder of Valley View University will be held tomorrow at the campus of the University.

The late Nii Klu, 84 died in Accra after a short illness.

He was a Christian Church finance educationist who rose through the ranks to be a Vice President of the Seventh Day Adventist Church worldwide.

Pastor Nortey was born at Abokobi to a father from Osu and a mother from the Abokobi royal family. He started his highly illustrious education at the Abokobi Presbyterian school and finally became a Reverend Professor of the SDA Church at the end of his life.

Professor Nortey was a pioneer, door opener extraordinaire; his life was characterized by a burning desire to inspire others with his highly spirited energy of achieving their goals in life.

In that, he was a forerunner who allowed others the opportunities to rise to laurel positions by improving their innate abilities and natural talents. In a word, Pastor Nortey aspired to inspire others to follow Jesus Christ as he came to know him in 1959, which was the seminal turning point in hi life.

That was when he became a Seventh Day Adventist at the Elder E.E. Cleveland Crusade in Accra. And that was the beginning of his journey with Christ, which include his immense contribution to spiritual development and academic excellence in Christian education in universities in Africa and the United Sates.

Pastor Nortey was the dreamer and foster parent of the Valley View University at Oyibi, Accra. That was during his term as the first black President of the SDA Church for Africa/India Ocean.

Indeed, it was through his resolute resilience and solicitous insistence of achieving academic greatness for the youth of Ghana that the Valley View University was cited between Oyibi, mainly because of its close proximity to the University of Ghana, Legon.

Afterwards, he became an adjunct lecturer at Valley View University and many universities across the world. Lately, Pastor Nortey was the ex-President of Datalink University in Tema.

Pastor was married to Ghana’s first female Hematologist, Thelma Naa Kreshie Temley Nartey, my aunt, who was also the first woman to head the National Blood Bank System in Ghana. She hailed from the Gbese Kreshie Abodiamo We and the Obono Wem Prampram Royal Stool. She died in July 2021.

Uncle Jack, as he was popularly called by many, was the god-parent to Honorable Dr Alfred Nii Oko Vanderpuije, MP (former Accra Mayor, MP Ablekuma Central) Pastor Professor Seth Nii Aban Laryea, (Ex Vice Chancellor Valley View University), Dr Moses Tawiah Adoko, (Chief Knowledge Officer of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA, and a Professor of Aerospace Complex Systems) nephew, and many others, such as I, Venerable Dr Nii Naate Atswele Agbo Nartey (Community Support Specialist/Bíblical Psychologist).

Many benefitted from the J.J Nortey Education Trust Funds for tertiary/Christian Education at home in Ghana and abroad.

Caption: The late Prof. Nortey