Tributes paid to pioneering Body Shop founder

LONDON, Sep 11 (Reuters) Prime Minister Gordon Brown led tributes to Body Shop founder Anita Roddick today, describing her as a ''true pioneer'' who inspired millions to take an ethical approach to business.

Roddick suffered a brain haemorrhage and died in hospital in Chichester, West Sussex, yesterday with her family at her bedside. She was 64.

''As one of this country's most successful businesswomen, she was an inspiration to women throughout the country striving to set up and grow their own companies,'' Brown said.

''She campaigned for green issues for many years before it became fashionable to do so and inspired millions to the cause by bringing sustainable products to a mass market.'' The Body Shop's Chairman Adrian Bellamy said Roddick had a love of life that touched all those who met her.

''It is no exaggeration to say that she changed the world of business with her campaigns for social and environmental responsibility,'' he said.

Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper described her as a leading light of the green movement. Newspaper headlines paid tribute to ''the green queen''.

Roddick founded The Body Shop in Brighton in 1976, selling toiletries made from natural ingredients, and her brand became a byword for sustainable business.

She saw her business mushroom into an empire of more than 2,000 stores in 51 different markets. She sold her stake in The Body Shop to France's L'Oreal last year.

L'Oreal's Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Agon described her an ''inspiration to us all and a tremendous force for good''.

A multi-millionaire, Roddick campaigned against human rights abuses and was an environmental activist. The mission statement of The Body Shop was: ''To dedicate our business to the pursuit of social and environmental change.'' Roddick said it was her mother's frugality during World War Two that inspired her to campaign for environmental issues and question retail conventions.

''We re-used everything, we refilled everything and we recycled all we could. The foundation of The Body Shop's environmental activism was born out of ideas like these,'' she wrote on her Web site.

Roddick revealed earlier this year that she was suffering from liver damage after contracting the Hepatitis C virus more than 35 years ago and campaigned for support for sufferers of the potentially deadly disease.

REUTERS PJ DS1412