The Reverend Canon Dr. Noel Justin Onukwuforobi Amadi was born in Umuayalu Village Egbu, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. He graduated from Bishop Lasbrey Teachers College, Owerri and Immanuel Theological College, Ibadan with a Diploma in Theology, London University. He was ordained a Deacon in 1964 and served as curate at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Imo State, Nigeria and was priested in the Diocese of Connecticut in 1965.

In 1965 Canon Amadi received the Rev. Harold Miller Scholarship to attend Yale Divinity School. He received his Bachelor of Divinity in 1968, and married his wife, Nkiru F. Amadi at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, New Haven, Connecticut. He and Nkiru moved to New Jersey, where they were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Dr. Nkechinyere Ijeoma Amadi, MD, MPH, who is married with two children, and a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Canon Amadi has received a Master’s degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, a Master’s degree in Education (M.Ed) from Rutgers University School of Education, New Brunswick, New Jersey and a Doctorate degree program (D.Ed) from Rutgers Graduate School of Education.

Canon Amadi has had the privilege to serve in both Nigerian and American academic and religious institutions. He served as Senior Lecturer at Alvan Ikoku College of Education, and was made a Canon in 1984 at All Saints Cathedral Church, Egbu, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. He served as Priest-in-Charge at St. Wilfrid’s Episcopal Church in Camden, New Jersey (1993-2003), and organized and founded an Igbo Congregation in Trenton, in the Diocese of New Jersey. Presently, he is a retired Priest Associate at Trinity Cathedral.

Canon Amadi, together with wife Nkiru and daughter Nkechinyere, built and equipped the Papa Johnson Onyejelam Amadi Science Building and Laboratories at the Archdeacon Dennis Foundation International Boys’ Secondary School, Egbu, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria – a required condition of the federal government of Nigeria for the school’s approval.

Reverend Canon Dr. Amadi is one of the founding fathers of Owerri Improvement Association (OIA) cultural organization; Owerri Progressive Union; Egbu Town Union USA as well as several other cultural and community organizations in the USA.