DISCLAIMER: This article contains the personal views of the author and should not be inferred to be the views of Unlock Democracy.

26 May 1946 to 5 December 2009

Nina Fishman has been a constant in my life with her positive attitude, sense of humour and quirky ways since I started working at the Electoral Reform Society in 1995. I worked with her first as a junior employee then as fellow council member and finally as a Director and in each of these incarnations Nina was always there to help, cajole and inspire. Nina became a friend as well as fellow campaigner always willing to listen and offer advice when asked.

Nina never seemed to become dispirited, she was always positive and willing to get her hands dirty. Though a historian by profession she was an activist and organiser to her core. She innately believed that people could make a difference. If she could not do it herself she would find someone else to “help” turn her idea into a reality. Over the years I would get a call from Nina where she would tell me about an idea and I would find myself taking on another project. So through her the New Politics Network and later Unlock Democracy become involved with organising the Hugo Young Lectures with the Guardian and involved in doing work on European citizenship.

Nina was born an American but became British by choice; she was a passionate pro European and electoral reformer. She would use words like wireless instead of radio because when she moved here she so immersed herself in British life and language that she trained herself to use the English expression at the time and could never go back.

She served on so many boards that no one organisation defined her but in each she left a mark. Nina served on the New Politics Network Council and took part in the merger negotiations with Charter 88. Despite my wishes to have a quick process Nina insisted on taking time to discuss the values of the two organisations values and whether there visions for the future were the same. Her insistence proved right and the creation of Unlock Democracy owes a lot to Nina’s willingness to engage and deliberate and therefore bring people with her. She served on our Council right up to her death from cancer. The democratic reform movement will be the poorer without her and I will miss her sense of fun and optimism.