BRITAIN:Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick died last night after suffering a major brain haemorrhage. She died at 6.30pm at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, England, at the age of 64. Her husband Gordon and daughters Sam and Justine were with her.
A statement released by her family last night said Ms Roddick had been admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit on Sunday evening.
It said: "Gordon, Justine and Sam Roddick are very sad to announce that after suffering a major brain haemorrhage, Anita Roddick died at 6.30pm this evening at the age of 64.
"Anita Roddick was admitted to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, close to her home, yesterday evening when she collapsed after complaining of a sudden headache."
In February this year, Ms Roddick revealed she was carrying the hepatitis C virus. She said she had been carrying it for more than three decades, but only found out two years ago after a blood test.
She made the announcement as she called for hepatitis C to be taken more seriously as a "public health challenge".
She said: "What I can say is that having hep C means that I live with a sharp sense of my own mortality, which in many ways makes life more vivid and immediate. It makes me even more determined to just get on with things."
Anita Roddick was born in Sussex in 1942, the third of four children. Her parents ran a North American-style diner in the sleepy coastal town of Littlehampton.
After college, she flitted from one job to another. In Paris she worked for the International Herald Tribune. She taught in England. In Geneva she worked for the United Nations. Then she took a break and followed the hippy trail to Africa, the Far East and Australia. Returning to Littlehampton, Roddick married and with her husband Gordon opened a hotel and restaurant. The restaurant was sold when Gordon announced that he intended to ride a horse from South America to New York.
Anita looked for a new business to generate income for the family in her husband's absence. She came up with the idea for a cosmetics business based on natural ingredients. On March 27th, 1976 she opened for business.
By the time her husband returned in 1977, The Body Shop concept had taken off. Friends and family ran the first few shops, but requests to set up branches began to flood in from strangers. To meet the demand Ms Roddick and her husband began franchising the name and concept. A high proportion of the franchisees were women.
As she prospered Ms Roddick took a bolshie view of the cosmetics industry. "Making products that work - that aren't part of the cosmetic industry's lies to women - is all-important," she said.
In 1994, as the business expanded, Ms Roddick brought in external help. In 1998, she stepped down as chief executive. In 2006 she attracted bouquets and brickbats when L'Oreal acquired The Body Shop for £652 million (€957 million).
She built a global company from a one-woman cottage industry. She changed the attitude toward women in business in the UK. She made her voice heard championing the environment and the rights of minorities.