...The Life and Time of The Granddaughter of Legendary Billionaire, Sir Candido Da Rocha
Prominent society matriarch and foremost educationist,
Mrs. Iyabo Margaret Durand is dead. She died on Monday, 9 January 2017, at a
private hospital in Lagos, after a protracted battle with a yet-to-be-disclosed
illness. She was aged 72.
Durand was the co-founder of highbrow,
Greenwood House School, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, which is regarded as one of the
most elitist schools in Nigeria.
Durand was an accomplished educationist and
the proprietress of Greenwood House School Lagos. A native of Lagos, she was
from the prominent Thomas family of Lagos Island. She was the only full sibling
of Sisi Modupe Sagoe, the doyenne of textile business in Nigeria and one of the
most formidable society grand matriarchs of the Nigerian society. It is
pertinent to note that Durand’s step-mother was the grand-daughter of the late
Candido Da Rocha, one of the business moguls who dominated the Nigeria’s
business sector during the earliest part of last century.
Durand attended Anglican Girls' Primary
School Lagos, then St. Louis Grammar School Mokola, Ibadan, where she was the
head girl. In 1967, she went abroad to study the Montessori Method of
Education, at St. Nicholas Training Centre in England. She studied for
0-5years, and then the advanced level. In 1975, she came back to Nigeria and
started working with Corona Trust Council. She taught at Corona School Ikoyi
for 25years after which she left to set up the Green Wood House School in 1995,
with her niece, Ekua Titilayo Abudu,(nee Sagoe), a successful lawyer and
chartered administrator.
The school started with 24 students at No.
8 Omo-Osagie Street, South-West, Ikoyi, Lagos. By 1998, the school had grown
and had to take another building to accommodate the children. Within a
relatively short period, the school grew to its maximum capacity of about 800
children and has maintained that number since.
In September 2003 the school moved to its
permanent site at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, which is a purpose built building
with spacious classrooms, better facilities and expansive playgrounds.
Durand is survived by two children, Omolara
Onalaja and Dayo Durand, and many grandchildren
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