Tributes were pouring in this week for the director and founder of the Natural Death Centre in Cricklewood who died in a car crash on June 3.

Nicholas Albery, 52, was killed as the car driven by his 85-year-old mother pulled out of a drive in Princes Risborough, near High Wycombe, and collided with another car.

Spokeswoman for the Natural Death Centre in Heber Road, Stephanie Wienrich, said everyone who knew Mr Albery was very shocked.

"If you know anything about Nicholas, you would know he is quite an environmentalist and the fact that it was a car crash was quite sad and shocking. He was someone who took an idea and made it into something. He really practised what he preached.

"Everyone is really shocked by what happened, especially as it was a car crash."

Mr Albery is survived by his wife Josefine Speyer, another of the centre's directors, and their son, Merlyn, 25.

Born in St Albans, the son of a theatrical impressario, Albery dropped out of Oxford University after becoming involved with the psychedelic and spiritual movements in San Francisco. He was a friend of Nicholas Saunders and helped him set up the Neal's Yard wholefood shop in Covent Garden, before Mr Saunders died three years ago, also in a car crash.

Mr Albery founded the Institute for Social Inventions in 1984, a think tank collecting non-technological ideas and projects from around the world, with patrons including musician Brian Eno, authors Fay Weldon and Colin Wilson and founder of the Body Shop Anita Roddick.

The Institute set up the Natural Death Centre in Cricklewood in 1991, advising people who want to hold green, inexpensive, family-organised funerals.