Kanta Patel was a much liked and well respected member of Greenwich Council for more than 20 years who was well-known in the borough as a tireless campaigner for equal rights.

Born in Tanzania in 1947, she moved to England in 1968 and settled in Greenwich. The challenges she faced on her arrival gave her a passion for social justice and led to her become a councillor, first of all representing residents living in the old Herbert and St Alfege wards before becoming a ward councillor in Plumstead.

Over the years she became a real champion of the benefits that Greenwich’s diverse borough could bring to all local residents. Her immense contribution to Greenwich included serving on 34 different committees, covering all aspects of the council’s work, and, until recently, serving in the cabinet as member for social inclusion.

She was also instrumental in the development of the Charlton Athletic Race Equality (CARE) programme, a partnership between Greenwich Council and Charlton Athletic Football Club which has been tackling racism and social exclusion in Greenwich for 15 years. Her commitment to using education, culture and sport to help to raise aspirations and opportunities, particularly among young people, was perfectly illustrated in the CARE programme, which uses sports and art-based projects to bring people from different backgrounds together.

The success of the innovative programme led to it receiving national recognition in 2006 when it was included in a Government report as an example of an inspiring and excellent local project, an achievement which Kanta was particularly proud of.

As well as carrying out her work on the council, she continued to work diligently to help to improve living standards for local residents, and was a leading light in the Greenwich Gujarati Samaj group, an organisation which has offered advice on welfare rights to local Asian residents for many years.

In 2006 her work also led to her being invited to write a weekly column in the national newspaper Asian Voice where among many other subjects, she spoke about the need for more Asian women to become future leaders, the overall benefits that the London 2012 Games is capable of creating and the need for more organ donors. Despite her deteriorating health, her sense of pride and commitment meant that she continued writing her weekly column up until the last few weeks of her life.

Kanta Patel, Councillor for Greenwich Council and campaigner for equal rights, was born on June 2, 1947. She died on July 9, 2008, aged 61