My friend Mary Rogers, who has died of cancer aged 74, was a leading figure in the fields of urban regeneration and corporate social responsibility.
She was very proud of her family’s roots in the fishing community of Folkestone, Kent. Her awareness of social injustice and deprivation began there, and she was a social and political activist inside and outside the Labour party for much of her adult life. Her father had left school at 13, but managed to become a dentist through an apprenticeship in Harley Street.
Mary was born in Radlett, Hertfordshire, while her parents, Jack and Joan Rogers, had temporarily moved away from Folkestone to avoid second world war bombing. Educated at St Margaret’s, Folkestone, an innovative independent girls’ school, she went on to Canterbury and Kingston College of Art, where she met Peter Scott, whom she married in 1965.
After having two children, Mary attended the Royal College of Art in London in 1975, a time when student political activism was at a peak. Her thesis on participative architecture was timely and in 1976 Mary co-founded Support Community Building Design, a radical architectural practice run as a co-operative. Support provided expertise to community groups, enabling them to participate in the design of local projects. This approach is now the norm in urban regeneration, but in the 1970s and 80s it was groundbreaking. A committed feminist, in 1984 Mary also founded the Women’s Design Service, an independently funded research organisation, which kept going until 2012.
Her next career opportunity arose through Ken Livingstone and the Greater London council. He recruited many political activists with practical experience to staff various economic development schemes. One, the Greater London Enterprise Board, was designed to encourage new investment in London’s businesses and Mary became joint chief executive in 1986.
In 1993 she founded her own urban regeneration consultancy, Mary Rogers Associates, and in 1997 she was co-founder of Urban Catalyst. She was on the boards of several charitable bodies, including Stonebridge Housing Trust. As its deputy chair she helped lead the sensitive task of rebuilding a rundown north London housing estate.
From 2002 Mary was chair of Pensions and Investment Research Consultants, which aims to encourage corporate social responsibility through shareholder action. She also ran Industry Forum, which is dedicated to fostering better understanding between business and policy-makers.
Mary had a passion and flair for design, exemplified by the beautiful homes she created in London and in France and her stylish way of dressing. She had a love of friendship, travel and adventure and the countries she visited included Iran, China, New Zealand, Russia and the US.
Mary and Peter divorced in 1980. She is survived by two children, Joanna and Kester, two grandchildren, Ellis and Jasper, and her sisters, Susan and Diana.
