My friend Anne Seller, who has died aged 79, was a feminist philosopher, a campaigner against nuclear weapons and a community artist. In 1966 she became a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Kent, and remained in that job until she retired in 2002.
Born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, to John, a teacher, and his wife, Elizabeth (nee Whitehead), a nurse, Anne was educated at Bedford High school and went to Leeds University to study philosophy before taking up her post at Kent.
She played a central role in setting up the first UK master’s degree in women’s studies (now gender studies) at Kent in the 1970s. On a national level she was a founder member of the UK Society for Women in Philosophy (Swip) in the early 80s. An energetic member of the society, she paved the way for later feminists who insisted on the need to move gender differences, plus women’s rights and needs, to the heart of the discipline. Many Swip members, now in senior positions, remarked on Anne’s encouragement, bubbly humour, kindness and sharp insights, as well as on her intellectual honesty and generosity.
Anne was a political philosopher who lived her philosophy. Her articles on pacifism and engaged resistance for various academic journals were grounded in her activism as a campaigner against nuclear weapons, especially at Greenham Common, where she cut perimeter fences and trespassed into the military camp. A visiting appointment at Mother Teresa Women’s University in India also informed her writing.
When she retired, Anne studied for a degree in creative arts and produced highly individual, impressionistic and expressive artworks. She was a founder member of Perrywood Arts community arts organisation near Faversham and worked with Canterbury communities, notably in St Paul’s, her local Anglican church.
In 2007, she created a beautiful Christmas angel for Canterbury Cathedral. The 7ft chicken-wire angel was transparent, except for the white, feathery wings that had been stuffed with paper hands that had been made by a group of local children. It was so striking that the process was repeated by participants at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the international meeting of Anglican bishops.
Anne was popular in her local community. She acted as lady mayoress in Canterbury in 2001-02, when her friend Fred Whitemore, who is gay, became lord mayor and needed a mayoress. She taught philosophy to children at the Orchard school in Canterbury, where she was a governor.
Anne is survived by her brother, John, two nieces, a nephew and four great-nieces.
