Zacchaeus U. Ikpot

Zacchaeus U. Ikpot Rochester: September 13, 2022. Zacchaeus is survived by his wife, Nseabasi Ikpot; children, Imoh Ikpot, Elsie Ikpot, Iniabasi Ikpot, Emem-Esther Ikpot, & Ima Ikpot; siblings, Seline (Pius) Olawumi, Samuel (Comfort) Udofa, Kennedy (Victoria) Udofa; several nieces, nephews, cousins & dear friends. Zacch's visitation will be held on Saturday, October 1st from 10-11 am at Central Church of Christ located at 101 S. Plymouth Avenue. The funeral service will begin at 11:00 am. His interment will immediately follow at Riverside Cemetery. Remembering Zacchaeus Udofa Ikpot September 30th, 1951 - September 13th, 2022 ________________________________________ "[I was in my] mom's stomach for 11 months and 3 weeks. It's not in the books of Guinness. No child survives 11 months and 3 weeks in the stomach. And there was no doctor no nurse, how did he come out? [He] came out when they were preaching. 11:30 on a Sunday on September 30th." Quote by Zacchaeus Udofa Ikpot, on his 66th birthday (September 30th, 2017) detailing his birth via a video recording by his youngest daughter, Ima. Zacchaeus Udofa Ikpot (aka Zacch) was welcomed into this world on ...[more]

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tember 30th, 1951, in Lagos, Nigeria by his parents, Stanley Ikpot and Elsie Ikpot. He was born to the Venerable Archdeacon Stanley Udofa Ikpot of the Royal family of Chief Ikpot, Otu, Udofa, Udofa Otu, Inyang Otu, Imoibom, Akpembang Ekanim from Idung Udofa in Eket and Madam Elsie Udofa Ikpot of the family of Chief John Ebitu of Nung Akpan Offiong in Eket. As a priest, Stanley was unequivocally passionate about the Word of God, especially the power of prayer. Elsie was a teacher for many years and later worked as a supermarket accounts clerk where she ran her own store adjacent to the family home. Like her son Zacch, she always kept things tidy and organized - she was very detailed in all activities and made sure that all the T's and I's of life were crossed and dotted respectively. Their public orations were well known in their church and social lives. Zacch was the eldest child, and was later joined by sister, Seline Olawunmi, and brothers, Samuel Udofa and Kennedy Udofa. Education was extremely important to Zacch, as it was the foundation and key to success. He always said, "Knowledge is power - the mind is a terrible thing to waste." He attended grade school at Christ the King School in Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria from 1956 until he entered high school at the United Christian Secondary School in Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria, graduating in 1967. He traveled to Paris, France in 1976 for his undergraduate education and later transferred to The College at Brockport, State University of New York, and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration in May of 1982. Three years later, Zacch completed his Master of Business Administration in Finance and International Trade at the St. John Fisher Graduate School of Business and Management. Zacch's first job was at the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) as a payroll clerk (1968-1976). He was the Payroll Accounting Supervisor for Apex Centerline Company in 1985 before he became an Accounts Executive for The Copeland Companies (1985-1987). Zacch was a Financial Analyst for the Xerox Corporation (1987-1997) and then worked in Accounts Receivable for United Parcel Service (1997-1999). From this time on until 2017, Zacch was a devoted stay-at-home dad. When he re-entered the commercial workforce, he was a Tax Professional at H&R Block (2017-2021) and worked at Wegmans as a Cashier (2021-Present) bringing smiles and joy to every customer that came through his checkout queue. Outside of work, Zacch was very engaged in the Rochester community. He was an active member of the Nigerian Association of Greater Rochester Inc. (NAGRoch) for many years. He was loved by the #8 School community, as well as the Rochester Rotary Club, where his son Iniabasi was a student scholar. He was a faithful servant of the Lord. He served the Central Church of Christ as Deacon and Co-Leader of the finance team for over a decade. At every service, his voice was heard calling "Preach sir!" from the right corner of the church or booming out from the choir with his beautiful tenor voice. He was the Sunday School Superintendent and organized Sunday Breakfast for people who were homeless. He participated in Prayer Warriors, Bible study, choir rehearsal, leadership meetings, church cleaning on the weekends, and health classes taught by his wife, Nseabasi. In Zacch's free time, he enjoyed traveling the world, playing soccer, driving, table tennis, reading, cooking, singing, harmonizing in his melodic tenor voice, listening to music, and sitting on the ground discussing national and international politics with friends and family. Nseabasi (aka Nse) met Zacch in Lagos, Nigeria and they were introduced to each other by friends of the family. Nse saw his picture and felt something deep inside of her heart that made her feel like he was "the one." After denying various suitors, she agreed to meet Zacch on August 31st, 1992, and they were subsequently married on September 5th, 1992. Two years later she joined him in Rochester, New York. They never actually called each other by their first names - his nickname for her was "N-S-E", and hers for him - "sweetie". On September 5th, 2022, they celebrated 30 years of marriage by exploring the Two Nations Tour and Uncle Sam Boat Tour, strolling through the Boldt Castle where they saw the beautiful Yacht House, and ended the weekend with a romantic dinner cruise. Zacch was a proud father to 5 children: Imoh, Elsie, Iniabasi, Emem-Esther, and Ima. As a family, the Ikpots valued quality time together and went on vacations to Disney World, Martha's Vineyard, California, Thousand Islands, and numerous boat rides. They also road-tripped many places - with Zacch as the beloved "designated driver" - to Houston, Philadelphia, New York City, Cleveland, Toronto, Charlotte, the DMV, and Nova Scotia in Canada, to name a few. Zacch was active in many African events bringing all the dance moves and energy. Even though Zacch disliked swimming, he was always ready to get his wife drinks by the pool. Zacch was not only treasured by his family, but he was also deeply loved by his friends. Some of his closest college friends at SUNY Brockport were Dr. Peter Okoye, Hanes Sobe, Lemmy Lemea, and Samuel Ndive. Other close friends included Dr. Babacar Camara and Daniel Ekpe. They had fun nicknames for each other and shared sacred inside jokes, traveled to other states together, studied intensely together, partied hard together, and supported one another fervently as young adult African immigrants in upstate New York. There are many memories that Zacch's friends and family hold dear. He spoke in parables, creative metaphors, and witty Dad jokes. He loved giving people interesting nicknames - he would call Ini "Wall Street" because he lives in New York City, would call his brother, Sam "Jaguar" because of his amazing speed on the soccer field, and would call Ima "TikTok manager" as he felt closer to her when watching her TikTok videos with Nse. For those that knew him, he loved smelling soothing scents. He would always burn incense in the bathroom and burn candles around the house. His favorite thing to watch was the news, especially Larry King Live, channel 9 news (formally known as R-news), and CNN. He loved laughing and singing, making a play on words, and was endlessly charismatic. Zacch loved music, especially listening to jazz, Nigerian gospel, afrobeat, funk, soul, and rocksteady. He had countless CDs, cassette tapes that he meticulously labeled of his favorite songs, and original vinyl records that he collected throughout his lifetime - with some records still having the plastic cover on them. He would play these vinyl records on his new Victrola record player he received from Elsie one Christmas, ranging from Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Barbara Mandrell, Stevie Wonder, and many more legends. He was a major James Brown fanatic and actually got to see James Brown live in concert in Nigeria. He always stated that he was one of the shortest guys there and had to climb a tree, like the short tax collector Zacchaeus in the Bible, to perfectly visualize and jam out to the Godfather of Soul. He enjoyed cooking too - especially white rice & stew, bread with stew, gizzards, ekpang nkukwo, plantains (his favorite food), and beans. His favorite foods to bake were chicken and baked potato. His favorite dessert was his wife's homemade cheesecake with cherries on top. He was in no way a picky eater. He would eat almost anything and described all food as very "palatable". Zacch enjoyed Schaller's fish fry and loved to eat "those worms" as he always used to describe them - aka the spaghetti or pad Thai dishes that Emem would always order from local Rochester restaurants. He listened to WDKX in the mornings for news, updates, and music, and would always take the long way when driving places (especially when he had to drive Emem everywhere since she refuses to get a license still). Maybe he took the long way because deep down he didn't actually like driving on the expressway. Zacch was known to say some memorable pieces of wisdom. These included, "Health is wealth," "Common sense is not always common, cause if it was common everyone would have it," "There is power in numbers" and, "We are made for a community and the community is here." Every day when he dropped his children off at school in elementary and high school, he would say: "Don't follow, lead. What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right." God, family, community, and education were the most important pillars of Zacch's life. He was prayerful, charismatic, eloquent, stubborn, intelligent, and a jokester with a contagious laugh and smile who sometimes struggled with patience and vocalizing his inner emotions. His legacy is one of devotion to the Lord and church as a faithful Christian as well as being a family man, loving husband, and dedicated friend, brother, and uncle. His legacy will continue to live on through his children and all their personal and professional achievements and accomplishments. As his family reflects, "He was God-sent. We are grateful to God for the time that we had with him here on earth and he will forever be in our hearts, until we meet again. We love you!"