On June 7, 2014, Dora Akunyili passed away in a specialized cancer hospital in India following a two-year struggle with uterine cancer.
Years later, on September 28, 2021, when returning from an event hosted by the University of Nigeria Nsukka Alumni Association (UNAA) in honor of his late wife at Sharon Hall, All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha, her husband Chike Akunyili was shot and killed by gunmen at Nkpor, in the Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra. There were reportedly at least seven more fatalities from the incident.