Tony Lloyd
Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd died after a short illness on 17 January. Born in Stretford, Manchester, Sir Tony served in Parliament for 36 years, making him one of the longest-serving MPs in recent history. He was Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner between 2012 and 2017 and served as the first (albeit interim) Mayor of Greater Manchester in his last two years in the role.
In 2023, he campaigned against Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) plans to remove powers from its tenant representative body, and in 2020 stood with Unite in calling for the Co-op Group to reconsider the sale of its underwriting business to Markerstudy.
Sir Tony was the Labour MP for Rochdale from 2017, where he actively supported the work of the Co-operative Heritage Trust and its work at the Rochdale Pioneers Museum. The Heritage Trust was among those paying tribute, saying: “Tony shared his thoughts on social media about the ways the movement had helped working-class people. He was a firm supporter of the work we do through the Rochdale Pioneers Museum locally and through the wider movement.
“We always found him approachable and compassionate, easy to talk to and committed to a peaceful resolution to conflict.”
Carlo Borzaga
Prof Carlo Borzaga, 75, was a researcher, lecturer and social entrepreneur who played a key role in the development of one of the most significant Italian laws on social co-operatives and organised volunteering.
In 2008 he founded the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse), which he led until May 2022, and helped set up the Iris network for Italian researchers and institutions working on social enterprises.
He founded and supported a range of organisations, including Villa Sant’Ignazio in Trento, one of the first co-ops engaged in social work, which he led for nine years; Federsolidarietà, the National Federation of Social Cooperatives; and the National Consortium of Social Cooperation – CGM, of which he was a director. Between 1989 and 1993 he was the president of the Trentino Consortium of Social Cooperation Consolida.
An active supporter of the social economy, in 1996 Borzaga founded the country’s first master’s degree programme in management of social enterprises.
He played a crucial role in the adoption of one of the most important laws on social co-operation, labour and social enterprises, working closely with the Italian ministers and the national co-operative movement.
Mario Diani, president of Euricse, said: “We have lost the social entrepreneur, the inspirer of public policies and legislative innovations, the visionary who never gave up the idea that the third sector, volunteerism, and co-operation could change the world in which we live. But above all, we have lost a wonderful person who will remain in the hearts of all who knew him”.
Doreen Shaw
Doreen Shaw, who served as an elected director at Midcounties Co-op and its predecessor societies for 40 years, died just two months shy of her 100th birthday.
As a director, she was particularly canny with numbers – catching out managers who mistakenly thought they could get away with glossing over poor performance; and she had a knack of keeping a board room focused when contentious issues were at play.
She was also well known as the life and soul of many a co-op gathering and was routinely one of the last to call it a day at Congress dinners and dances. But the fun side would never distract from the serious business of work and she was always up early the next day keen to learn, discuss and network.
At a more profound level, she had an instinctive and practical grasp of what co-operation meant to ordinary people, while at the same time recognising the power of our co-operative values and principles – education, self-help, self-responsibility, solidarity – to improve lives.
Frank Nelson
Frank Nelson began his career at the Co-operative Bank in February 1974, recently celebrating his 50th anniversary within the movement.
He rose to a senior position in the bank’s marketing department, where he worked on the pioneering Customer-led Ethical Policy which continues to guide the bank to this day.
After taking early retirement in 2008, he stood for and was elected to the Merseyside Area Committee and the North West and North Midlands Regional Board. Following the capital crisis in the Bank, Frank was elected to the Group board in 2014, becoming a non-executive director of the Co-operative Group at its moment of greatest peril. His period on the Group board successfully stabilised the organisation and saw the implementation of the new governance arrangements, with Allan Leighton succeeding Ursula Lidbetter as the independent chair. He was subsequently elected and re-elected to the National Members’ Council.
Friend and colleague Nick Crofts remembered “a tenacious co-operator, who combined a fierce dedication to the co-operative difference and our values and principles with pragmatism and a very keen eye for detail, not least our adherence to the society’s rules.”
Ewen MacLeod
Co-op Group National Members’ Council, representative for the Scottish constituency, Ewan MacLeod joined the National Members’ Council from its inception, playing an active role in the Governance Review Task and Finish Group and the Rules Review Working Groups, and remained dedicated to the movement, saying: “What the movement stands for is precious because it is very different”. During his years of service, he acquired the certificate in co-operation, diploma in co-operation and the Group’s board development centre certificate.
Chris Williams
Prof Chris Williams, 61, was one of the foremost historians of Wales and of the labour movement, and wrote extensively on the early co-operator, Robert Owen. Williams, who was born near Owen’s home town of Newport, Wales, published Robert Owen and his Legacy, with Noel Thompson, in 2011, and supported the newly instated Robert Owen Day which commemorates his early activity.
Emma Howard
Emma Howard, a thinker, doer, scientist and co–operator, died in November aged 35 after a short illness. She was elected to the East of England board in 2015, and the Co-operatives UK board in 2018, where she was elected vice-chair and was a member of the audit and risk committee and the remuneration and search committee. In 2022, Howard joined Open Data Services worker co-operative as data and policy analyst – determined to show that the ethical use of data could change people’s lives for the better.
