Memorial service held for Kenneth Nwannunu

The memorial service for Kenneth Nwannunu, the College senior who passed away while abroad in Shanghai on Sept. 23, was held last night at the Second Baptist Church in Pedricktown, N.J.

The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. today.

A resident of Alloway Township, N.J., Nwannunu, 21, was a Philosophy, Politics and Economics major at Penn and was studying abroad in China for the semester.

Outside of class, he was involved in parliamentary debate and was a brother of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He also played football during his freshman year.

Although Nwannunu never took Chinese at Penn, he saw going abroad to Shanghai as an exciting challenge, according to friends.

The college program for international students at East China Normal University offered courses in English. He and five other College students had been there since their program had started on Aug. 30, according to Executive Director of International Programs Anne Waters.

Nwannunu was ambitious in other ways as well.

Last spring, he took an LSAT class and was planning on going to law school.

Friends remember him as energetic, friendly and social.

“I never figured out how he met all of these people, but he was so nice and friendly that everyone wanted to be friends with him,” College senior Maia Lichtenstein, who knew him from debate, wrote in an e-mail. “He was also sort of mischievous, in a really fun way. ... He was a great dancer, and had a great smile.”

SAE president and Wharton senior Jotham Klein described him as “a great person to have around.”

Nwannunu is survived by his parents, Denise Williams and John Nwannunu; sister, Florence Amara Nwannunu; and brother, Nelson Nwannunu.

The family has not released details about his cause of death.

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