Thanks to Wikipedia for the information.
Dame Anita Perella Roddick, who died of Hepatitis C and a brain haemorrhage on September 10, 2007, was globally recognised as the hands-on head of ethical cosmetics company The Body Shop.
A trail-blazing and inspiring entrepreneur, and a champion of women’s empowerment, Roddick was one of the world’s pioneers in ethical capitalism.
The success story she founded always strives to be gender-sensitive and pays workers every cent they are promised. It refrains from investing in countries that seriously violate the rights of women and minorities, the planet and humans in general.
Roddick was born in Sussex, near London, to Italian-Israeli immigrants on October 23, 1942,
Her mother ran a cafe and was in the habit of recycling.
Roddick taught at Bath Spa University in Bath, and subsequently married restaurant owner Gordon Roddick.
She later worked for the United Nations and travelled extensively, meeting people from different cultures.
In 1976, she founded The Body Shop in Brighton. Initially selling a mere 15 products, it grew over the years into a business empire selling more than 300 products, and serving 80 million customers worldwide.
It is one of the most trusted brands in the world.
In 1990, Roddick founded non-governmental organisation Children On The Edge which assisted underprivileged children in Asia and Eastern Europe.
Children On The Edge also raised awareness of AIDS and campaigned for increased research into finding a cure for the disease.
She also became actively involved in Greenpeace, the international environmentalist organisation.
When she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C several years ago, she campaigned to increase awareness of the disease and to find a cure for it.
She was knighted by Queen Elizabeth 2 of Britain, during the Prime Ministership of Tony Blair, in 2003.
Roddick is survived by her husband and two daughters.
