Waraporn, 80, fell from the second floor of her mansion while she was trying to reach a cat on January 15 and suffered severe head injuries. She was admitted to Prasat Neurological Institute’s intensive care unit and was pronounced dead at 1pm yesterday.

Waraporn donated the Bangkok Museum to the BMA in 2004, on condition she could continue to live in one of the houses in the compound. However, she was later disappointed with the way the museum was being run and raised objections.

She attracted huge media coverage when she launched a campaign to acquire a plot of land donated by her next to the Bangkok Museum, on which a high-rise building was being developed.

The campaign seeks to ensure that the beauty of the seven-decades-old mansion is maintained and warns that the planned high-rise building on the adjacent plot will mar the landscape.

Waraporn chairs the Insart-Sa-ang Foundation.

Sasiwimol Phetcharat, a staff member at Bangkok Museum, said she visited Waraporn at noon yesterday but found her unresponsive. Sasiwimol said after she returned to the museum, she was informed at 1.30pm that Waraporn had passed away.

The bathing rite will be held at Hua Lampong Temple at 4pm today.