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The late, Roland Vernon.

Durban activist Roland Vernon, who died on Tuesday at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central hospital, has been remembered as a compassionate person who cared for the environment, the poor and gay rights.

Vernon had been ill for about two years, and had undergone several operations, chemotherapy and radiation.

Carol Walsh, chairwoman of the Vuleka Trust, an ecumenical, non-governmental organisation centred at the Koinonia centre in Assagay, where Vernon was appointed CEO, said the world had lost a man who not only had a bright business brain, but who also had a real sense of vision and possibility.

“He had an activist’s heart and in a world that is changing so much, particularly for NGOs, he understood the notion of turning sustainability into charity… We are going to miss him terribly,” she said.

Close friend and Methodist minister Lauren Matthew said Vernon was passionate about marginalised people. He worked alongside the Abahlali baseMajondolo (an organisation that defends the rights of people living in informal settlements) leadership and assisted them. He was also an activist for gay rights.

“Vernon was also passionate about the Palestinian liberation movement,” she said.

The Rev Peter Butterworth said Vernon had held the position of media officer at the Diakonia Council of Churches and for the Methodist Church’s Southern Coastal District. “Roland was passionate about the environment and the plight of the poor. He was very creative and a deeply caring person, kind and quietly spoken,” he said.

Butterworth, who was tasked to arrange the flowers for the funeral, which would be held at 10.30am on February 7 at the Che Guevara (Manning) Road Methodist Church, said that he had decided to buy a fever tree, weave recyclable materials into it and plant it after the service.

“That’s what Roland would have liked,” he said.