Omar Kalid Igram

Omar Kalid Igram

On May 17, 2025, Omar Kalid Igram, 60, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loved ones after living his final chapter with pulmonary fibrosis. Omar did not view his diagnosis as a “battle”—he chose to accept his fate, move forward and continue as the primary caregiver for his mother with dignity, grace and compassion.

Omar was an artist, poet, and entrepreneur, who spent his childhood and teenage years in Shaker Heights, OH, graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1982. He was an Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts winner, later earning a bachelor’s degree in business from The Ohio State University in 1986, and a master’s in business administration from Cleveland State University.

After working at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Omar worked internationally with stints in Kuwait and Dubai and returned home to Ohio where he finished his career with GEM Industrial until retirement in 2024 due to his illness.

Omar’s observant and kind personality made him a prolific artist, publishing a book of poems, binders full of blind contour and gesture drawings of friends and family. These drawings are a perfect expression of Omar…as they are not meant to be precise, but rather to capture the essence of his subject matter.

Omar’s commitment to family and friends was unwavering… if you shared a struggle or a success story with him, he would remember every detail of it and bring it back up to you to help you, even years later. Having lost his father at the young age of 18 and buoyed by the support of so many cousins, aunts and uncles, he appreciated the power of a loving family which led him to be an amazing and supportive uncle to his nieces and nephews and his extended family until the end.

Omar will be missed beyond measure and remembered always for his sharp wit, intellect, humor and willingness to give others the truth without judgment.

Omar is survived by his mother Jamile Igram of Toledo, Ohio; his brother David and sister-in-law, Lilia Igram of Oxford, Michigan; his brother Ab Igram and sister-in-law Priscilla Igram of Fairfield, CT; his nieces Ameena Igram of Cleveland, Ohio, Alexa Igram (Connor) of New York City; Isabella Igram of Oxford, Michigan; Quinn Igram of New York City; and nephews, Noah Igram and Dylan Igram of Fairfield, CT.

He is predeceased by his father, Kalid H. Igram, who passed away in 1983, at the young age of 44.

Funeral services will be held Monday, May 19, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. Burial will follow in Ottawa Hills Memorial Park.