LAURAINE Diggins OAM, the first woman elected to Carlton’s Board of Directors and the daughter of the 1938 Premiership Captain-Coach Brighton Diggins, has died at the age of 73.

Elected to the board in November 2002 as part of Ian Collins’ Carlton One ticket that successfully ran against the regime of the long-standing President John Elliott, Diggins also served as a director of the Carlton Cricket and Football Social Club through to January 2007.

During her board tenure, Diggins was instrumental in driving initiatives such as ‘Generation Blue’ - a social group specifically tailored to young adult Carlton supporters.

Away from the club, she was a highly successful dealer in artworks – especially Australian - as Managing Director of Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, and in this year’s Australia Day Honours she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the museums and galleries sector.

“Lauraine made a valuable contribution in her short time on the board. That she was also the first female elected to the board was quite an achievement, for this was before women like Peggy O’Neill and Susan Alberti followed suit,” said David McKay, the four-time Carlton Premiership player who served with Diggins on the board.

“She was an innovative person who contributed on a number of fronts – she was good on the financial side, she was good on the social side and she was also very keen on the historical side. She offered a lot of advice when we were exploring the possibility of stablishing a museum at the club.

“She had that great empathy for the Carlton story, which as not surprisingly given her father’s contributions before her. She was very personable and totally committed to her footy club. She had the welfare of the club at heart and the welfare of its players.”

Lauraine Diggins OAM died peacefully last Friday. She is survived by her husband Michael Blanche, daughter Nerida, son-in-law Aidan and grandchildren Luca and Camille.

A private family funeral will take place with details of a memorial service to be announced in due course, and at www.diggins.com.au

The Carlton Football Club also acknowledges the recent passing at age 91 of Tom Leehane, a one-game senior player in season 1948.

Tom’s father Steve Leehane  represented Carlton in 82 matches through the war years of 1914-1919 – including the 1914 Grand Final won by the club.