We are very sad to have learnt today of the death of our co-founder Alex Mates at her home in Romania earlier this week.
Alex brought the idea of a Library of Things to Oxford, called the meetings that brought it into being, and was instrumental in setting it up, inspiring it with her enthusiasm and devotion. She also started up and ran our Repair Cafés for a couple of years.
Alex was young, energetic, and very committed to the issues that underpin SHARE Oxford. Waste was her enemy. She worked in the waste team of the City Council. She set up the Circular Collective as a local manifestation of how the circular economy should work. And she saw repairing and sharing as causes to both promote and implement.
Alex was full of ideas, too many ideas sometimes, and had a strong sense of community. I’m sure that many people will have benefitted from knowing Alex and doing things with her. That’s certainly true of me.
Maurice, co-founder with Alex of SHARE Oxford
Alex’s former employers, ODS, have put together a page to raise money for Mind. Donations in her memory would be very welcome. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alexandramates
5 replies on “Alex Mates”
So very sorry to hear this heartbreaking news. I loved Alex, having only met her twice: once representing the City Council at Gloucester Green market and once at a Repair Cafe. Such a lovely person, so passionate and so inspiring. I often find myself thinking about her. She’s so alive in my memory, I can’t believe she’s gone. RIP Alex, and my deepest condolences to her family.
I’m so sorry to hear this. She was such a wonderful person. Alex was actually the catalyst for me coming to Oxford to photograph repair events. My thoughts are with her family back in Romania. RIP Alex.
This is so sad. I met Alex at an event at the Old Fire Station many years ago and we shared ideas on our respective fledgling social enterprises and kept in contact afterwards to bounce ideas of each other. She was such a lovely person; we have lost an angel. If there is further information of the circumstances of her parting, I would like to hear (although this may not be the best place to share such info). I’m so glad to have met her but so sad that she is no longer with us.
I met Alex through the Library of Things, but it was at the Repair Cafes that I got to know her. Her energy and commitment to a greener world, as well as interest in recycling overlapped with some of my interests and we became friends, despite the vast differences in our ages. After she became a global citizen with her UK citizenship, I felt she was getting to where she wanted to be. I knew she had had dark moments, but I never thought they would overtake her in this way. I mourn her premature death… she had so much more to give.
Very sad news indeed. Sharing is about more than just sharing things, it’s about sharing loss and burden sometimes too. Sharing spreads the load, and if we can help from our spot up in Edinburgh in any way, please do reach out. In the meantime, we just want to share our love. Thinking of Alex and everyone who knew her. xo