[7] Like many of the Serer kings during their medieval dynastic history, Fode was a member of the noble Joof patriclan and the Guelwar matriclan—the two dynastic families who have reigned in Sine and Saloum for centuries.
[8] Keway Begay was one of three sisters whose maternal descendants reigned in Saloum for several centuries.
On his paternal side, he was of the noble Joof family who have reigned in precolonial Senegambia since lamanic times.
On his maternal side, he was from Selik which is the village of the male descendants of the founder of the Guelowar dynasty in Saloum—Maad Saloum Mbegan Ndour (reigned: 1493[9]).
Fode was a veteran of World War I, an Officer of the Legion of Honor, and commander of the national order of merit.