Memorial service plans to be determined

HUNTINGTON — The founder of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition announced that its founder, Dianne Bady, has died.

Bady, 67, succumbed to cancer on Monday at the Emogene Dolin Jones Hospice House in Huntington, the group said.

Bady founded the environmental  and social justice organization in 1987, in response to plans from BASF Corporation to burn or bury toxic waste it generated in North America in a low-income community near Huntington. She had served as the group’s co-director and on its board.

Under Bady’s leadership, OVEC’s work to end mountaintop removal coal mining gained national and international recognition, with numerous awards being granted to the organization and staff, including the Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award.

“Dianne carried a vision of a healthier environment, but beyond that, she had great compassion and love for people and an abhorrence for injustice. She was stricken to her core by the destruction wrought by fossil fuel corporations, and she sought healing and solace in her gardens and in the beauty of the nature,” Janet Keating, who worked closely with Dianne for 24 years at OVEC, said.

Plans for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.