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Susanna McKnight, a literary fan, lover of all things Italian, charity worker and widow of Keskidee Centre founder Oscar Abrams, has died aged 70.

Beloved by friends and family and respected for her charity and voluntary work, Ms McKnight, from Finsbury Park, died on January 10 following a short battle with cancer.

Born in Cambridge in 1947, she grew up in Essex and Hertfordshire. After school, she went to Reading University to study Italian and politics, and later to the London School of Economics.

In her 20s she travelled to Italy for her degree, spending time in Naples and Florence, and began a lifelong love affair with the country.

It was a liberating experience for her to be living by herself, far from England as a young woman, and to immerse herself in a culture very different from her own. She loved Italian literature, art and food passionately and was thrilled when the first deli opened in Highbury.

In her late 20s, Ms McKnight travelled to Afghanistan for a holiday spanning several weeks, while the country was on the brink of war. She left as Soviet tanks rolled in.

Following her return to London she met her future husband, the Guyanese architect and cultural activist Oscar Abrams, who had founded the Keskidee Centre in the early 1970s.

The project, in Gifford Street, King’s Cross, provided self-help and cultural activities for the West Indian community and was a focal point for emerging Black-led political activity.

The couple, who shared a flat in Highbury, both loved art, theatre, literature and music. They shared a passion for politics, and were known to be always discussing ideas.

They had two children, Amah-Rose, 37, and Kisi, 33, and bought a house in Finsbury Park in the mid-1980s. Mr Abrams died in 1996, aged 58.

Amah-Rose said: “I had really interesting parents. They’d always talk to us about politics, literature and ideas, and they were very supportive in what we wanted to do.

“If I had a question about anything, even with my job, my mum would know the answer.

“She was passionate about mental health and help for people with disabilities and about fairness, people getting a fair shake.”

She added: “She instill­ed in me the benefit of people being facilitated in school, having access to sports, arts and all of those things.”

Ms McKnight worked in the Italian department at University College London, before getting a job at Letterbox Library, in Essex Road, a book club specialising in anti-sexist and multicultural children’s books.

She later worked at the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, in London Fields, Hackney, which provides housing for people with mental health problems.

In 2010, she joined Angel-based health promotion charity Stuart Low Trust as general manager at a time when it faced a funding crisis. She was credited with turning the charity’s fortunes around.

Ms McKnight was well respected by the charity’s funders and supporters. On hearing of her retirement, one participant said of her: “Always so courteous, warm and helpful and looking out for all of us.”

SLT chairwoman Virginia Low said: “We all liked Susanna so much as well as respecting her excellent work for SLT and previously, at Elizabeth House [Highbury community centre] and PRA.

“Her death feels like a family bereavement. She was very important in the community and a lot of people will miss her.”

When Ms McKnight retired three years ago she returned to her academic roots, immersing herself in French literature, writing and reading, and taking part in poetry courses. “She never stopped learning or finding things interesting,” Amah-Rose said.

The funeral takes place at 2.30pm today (Friday) at St Thomas’ Church in Finsbury Park.