Obituary: Baroness Ewart-Biggs

IN HER eight years as President of the UK National Committee of Unicef, Jane Ewart-Biggs was tireless and inspiring, writes Lord Bridges. She travelled widely and with purpose, including two visits to Sudan, for which she had a particular affection, and for whose children she wrote an effective appeal.

As President of SOS Sahel, she strove to help the drought-stricken regions of Sudan and Mali. Her last journey for Unicef was to Mali, in January, when she was already suffering from the cancer which killed her. Two of her special interests will endure: Unicef's support of the Tuareg settlements at Mopti in Mali, and the consortium of British charities working to help street-children in the poorest cities in developing countries. The careful choice of these two deserving and well-prepared projects, and her continued enthusiasm for them, was typical of Jane. Nor shall we forget her steady encouragement of the volunteers who are the backbone of our support in this country, and whom she did so much to encourage.

I count myself lucky to have seen Jane Ewart-Biggs at work in successive phases of her life, supporting her husband so successfully in the diplomatic service before his tragic death, in the House of Lords, and in Unicef. She combined in a remarkable and exemplary way qualities of fortitude, sympathy and perception; and was a marvellous President of Unicef.

(Photograph omitted)