London: Tributes flooded in yesterday for Anita Roddick, the British founder of The Body Shop cosmetics chain and “queen of green”, who died at the age of 64 after a major brain hemorrhage.

Roddick pioneered environment-friendly and ethical business practices and was also a philanthropist. She died in hospital in Chichester in southern England on Monday night with her husband Gordon and two daughters by her side, after collapsing with a sudden headache, her family said.

Roddick is best known as the driving force behind The Body Shop, a highly successful international chain set up in 1976 that sells free trade and environment friendly beauty products. The shop was also an early pioneer of recycling: customers were encouraged to bring empty containers back to the store for refills.

Roddick was also known as a hard working campaigner for environmental and human rights as well as health causes. John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace and a personal friend of Roddick’s, said that the Body Shop’s green principles blazed a trail for the eco-friendly ethos that major companies routinely embrace today.

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