Sarah Berger, who started the first cohousing group in the UK (the Community Project) and founded the UK Cohousing Network, died on 21 April 2013.
She was a passionate advocate for justice in the developing world, following a trip to Africa in the early 90s. She participated in international protests at world summits in Prague, Genoa, Florence and Scotland. Age Concern secured her as their leading spokesperson for the 1999 International Year of Older Persons.
She was a founder member of a co-housing initiative which sprang from an ad in the Guardian in 1996 and led to 22 families setting up homes in an abandoned East Sussex asylum. Sarah devoted huge amounts of time and energy to making this community a success. But not content with the enjoyment she gained from living there, she worked to secure funding for a UK-wide agency, the UK Cohousing Network, to provide help to others wanting a more communal lifestyle.
Extract from her obituary in The Guardian.