Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop

Dame Anita Roddick, DBE* (Oct 1942 – Sept 2007) was the founder of The Body Shop, a British cosmetics company. She was born Anita Lucia Perilli in an immigrant Italian / Jewish family who had fled Naples just before the start of the Second World War.
The Body Shop produced and retailed beauty products that shaped ethical consumerism.The company was one of the first to prohibit the use of ingredients tested on animals and one of the first to promote fair trade with third world countries.
Anita Roddick also campaigned for environmental and social issues.
In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Roddick a *Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and she was officially styled Dame Anita Roddick DBE.

“We recycled everything, not because we were environmentally friendly, but because we didn’t have enough bottles. It was a good idea.” Anita Roddick

In an interview shortly after her death in September 2007 her husband Gordon Roddick said: “It’s as if somebody has reached into my heart and turned off all the lights.”