MARI Rees who was one of the rising stars of the Labour Party in Wales has died at the age of 52 following a prolonged illness.

Miss Rees - the daughter of Gwent retired GP and owner of the Ffwrrm arts centre at Caerleon Dr Russell Rhys - was of a Ghanaian mother and came to Britain at the age of eight.

Having been blooded in previous contests she was the Mid-Wales regional candidate in the forthcoming Assembly elections where she was widely expected to make a strong showing.

Her dedication only just failed to reap its rewards when in the last Assembly election for Pembroke North she came second.

The daughter of Mrs Veronica Nsafoa, a Ghanaian politician, Miss Rees attended St Joseph's Primary School and St David's Ursuline Convent at Brecon.

She was a former BBC political journalist and worked for Comunities First, the Welsh Assembly's regeneration programme for deprived areas.

Since the beginning of her career in politics she had lived in Penarth where she died at the Marie Curie Hospital on Sunday.

Dr Rhys paid tribute to the enthusiasm and commitment his daughter had shown in her political quest.

"The tragic thing is that she was on the very verge of breaking in to what she had always wanted to do.

"She was held in high esteem by the Labour Party.

"Rhodri Morgan came to see her only two days before her death."

Despite having cancer which was diagnosed over two years ago Miss Rees insisted on putting work for the Labour Party first.

She leaves Dr Rhys and his wife Gillian, three half-sisters and a half-brother in the UK and one in Ghana, an uncle, her Ghanaian mother and four foster-sisters.

A spokesman for the Labour Party said a fuller statement would be put out in consultation with the family.

"But we are all shocked and saddened by her death."

The funeral will be held at the Roman Catholic church at Brecon at a date to be announced.