I had the privilege of meeting Sky at Reading University when he was living opposite me at Hillside in 1993. His full nickname was SkyPower.  I remember his legs were too long for the bed. During a time of stress he was a supportive friend. 

Later he spent some time in Singapore and I regret I did not see him much, apart from an evening when we spent a couple of hours listening to Fela just before he left. He told me the meaning of some of the lyrics and of his admiration for Ken Saro-Wiwa.

It was a privilege to spend some time with this great soul. I am so sorry he has gone. My sincere condolences to his family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snIV_-IECsM

Sky and I did our doctoral studies under the same supervisor at Reading, Dr Paul Kerswill. I had recently returned from more than 10 years in Cameroon, and Sky arrived a couple of years later from Nigeria. In our research, we both had urgent questions on the use of African languages, and it was a special pleasure to be able to interact with Sky on these mutual concerns. His unfailing courtesy in debate and his ever-ready humour and smile are memories that I carry with me from that time.

Our paths diverged as Sky carved out his professional – and then professorial – niche, but continued to cross occasionally at conferences and other events. Far from creating any professorial distance, Sky was ever the same friend and colleague – interested, enquiring, positive and optimistic.

I am saddened that he is no longer with us and will miss him as an outstanding scholar and as a person whose sense of the fullness of life always inspired. My heartfelt condolences go to his wife Karen and their family.

I have known Sky since I was external examiner for the course he taught on at Roehampton. I followed his career with interest and some years later, I was proud to introduce him at his inaugural lecture as Professor of Sociolinguistics. But as well as our professional relationship, I came to know him as a friend and loving family man. I will truly miss this exceptional human being. The photo shows him at the viva of Tomasz John in June 2016.

Below is an obituary prepared by some of Tope's colleague

Born in 1956 in Kaduna State, Nigeria, Tope Omoniyi – known to many of his friends as Sky – completed a BA and M.Phil at the University of Lagos, where he also taught, before being awarded a scholarship for a PhD at the University of Reading. This was to be the springboard for an international career spanning the National Institute of Education, Singapore, Trinity College, Dublin, the University of West London and Roehampton University. At Roehampton, he rose to the position of Professor of Sociolinguistics and also served as Director of the Centre for Research in English Language and Linguistics. Given the regrettable reality that very few Africans have achieved professorial status in a UK university, it goes without saying that it takes an individual of exceptional talents to carve out such a route.

Influenced by his earlier life in Nigeria and his political beliefs, Tope was firmly grounded in the real world. His research and publications were wide ranging. Identity was an important theme in Sociolinguistics of borderlands and Sociolinguistics of Identity. He played a leading role in scholarship on religion, as exemplified in his edited collection on Language and religion. His interests kept pace with many contemporary concerns, including globalization and migration. He was also one of the first to consider as an exciting phenomenon, worthy of study, the mobility within global networks of popular culture. And, of particular note, was his recent work on the vital role of indigenous languages in the delivery of effective public health in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tope was a generous colleague and a mentor to many. He will be remembered as someone who both inspired and practised collaboration. Examples include the volumes coedited with colleagues: The Sociolinguistics of Identity (with Goodith White), Contending with Globalization in World Englishes with Mukul Saxena, and The Cultures of Economic Migration with Suman Gupta. An actor on the international stage, he led a research network on the Sociology of Language and Religion. He was a member of the AILA Africa Research Network and of the Globalisation, Identity Politics and Social Conflicts project, a collaborative research project initiated in the UK, India, and Nigeria and recently joined by colleagues in China, Iran, Morocco, and Bulgaria. He was also an early member of the BAAL ‘Language in Africa’ SIG. His willingness to sleep on the founding convenor's floor so that he could support the first conference in Leeds was typical of both his lack of affectation and his commitment.

Tope approached teaching with curiosity, thoughtfulness and sensitivity, always placing students at the centre of his efforts. He was a highly effective communicator with a clear sense of audience. His inaugural lecture was a case in point: he informed, challenged and truly captured the imagination of those present, using a wide range of media, including videoconferencing with his father in Nigeria to illustrate a point, at a time when electronic communication was rather less developed than it is today.

However, relatively few people are aware of the extent of Tope’s talents: he was gifted and creative, a poet as well as an academic, producing two collections: Farting Presidents and Other Poems and Poems for a Century: An Anthology on Nigeria.

Tope’s death after a very short illness has come as a great shock to all who knew, loved and respected him as a warm and generous person in both his academic and personal life. He leaves behind his wife Karen, his children – Tife Nisha, Onaayo Mara and Feranmi – as well as his elderly mother, his siblings and in-laws. Sky, gentle giant, you will be very sorely missed.