Migrant rights activist Teresa Maffeis passed away suddenly on Friday (February 4), according to the organization she founded -- the Association For Democracy in Nice (ADN). She died of a heart attack, radio station France Bleu Azur reported.

Maffeis -- who typically dressed all in green -- was known as the 'woman in green' among migrants and rights activists. Every week, Maffeis visited the border area between the French city of Nice and the Italian city of Ventimiglia to help refugees and migrants, handing out free meals to those in need.

Giving meals to migrants, refugees

Maffeis shared a photo on Instagram in July 2021, showing her and another volunteer with a large pot of pasta with the caption: "Sunday meal with Italian solidarity for dozens of refugees. Help us!"

Maffeis founded the Association For Democracy in Nice (ADN) in 1991, to protest against the candidature of far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen -- the founder of the Front National party -- in the regional elections.

Maffeis was also the co-author of the 2020 book "Les Sentinelles, Chroniques de la Fraternité à Vintimille" (in English: 'The Sentinels, Chronicles of the Fraternity in Ventimiglia'), along with the journalist Aurélie Selvi. The book chronicles the activities of volunteers helping migrants and refugees in Ventimiglia -- an Italian border town that has become a transit point for many non-EU citizens trying to move further west from Italy.

"Teresa was always there, for everyone, for more equality and brotherhood," Christine Poupon, who works with Amnesty International and who regularly went to Ventimiglia with Maffeis to provide meals to migrants, told France Bleu Azur.

"She fought against what was intolerable," well-known French migrant advocate Cédric Herrou said.

Family: Create protest signs to honor her

In a post shared on the ADN website and the activist's Facebook page, Maffeis' family said that people would be able to visit her coffin at a room in the Athanée (42 Boulevard Saint Augustin) in Nice between Monday and Friday (February 7-11). Visiting hours will be between 8am and 10pm, according to an update shared on Facebook.

The family asked people who wanted to commemorate Maffeis to create signs to honor the activist: "[W]e ...ask you to pay her a last visit as if you were going to see her in a demonstration. Find a stake, and put your sign on it -- expressing your [wishes for a] better world: demands, artistic, poetic... as you see fit." They also said that they, along with her close friends, were in the process of defining what an upcoming memorial ceremony for the activist should look like and would make a decision on this "in the weeks to come."